Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Fire spreads to store, causes $35K damage

Black toxic smoke filled the afternoon sky as railroad ties caught fire and 35 mph winds blew the blaze to an appliance repair shop.

Monday's 3:05 p.m. blaze caused $35,000 in damage to the Appliance Village at 415 W. Bonanza Road.

Loretta Lawrence had been working at the shop two hours before the fire broke out. She and her husband store used appliances in a building behind the store.

"I was just over here a little bit ago working with them inside," she said as she watched firefighters fight the flames. "We moved some appliances."

She left at 1 p.m. but returned after getting a call from a worker that the storage building in the rear was on fire.

A stack of railroad ties coated in creosote -- a tar-like oil -- behind the shop caused the black smoke to fill the air. Because of the smoke, fire officials closed several blocks on West Bonanza, from F Street to Main Street.

"What we tried to do was keep people on the upwind side so they wouldn't be exposed to the heavy toxic smoke," said Las Vegas Fire Department Deputy Chief Bill Young. "It was a much more spectacular fire than the fire really was."

Young said there were no injuries.

Francis Willingham, a machinist at the Drip Irrigation Systems Co. next door, was working inside when he saw the flames behind the building.

"We just saw the darn thing going up in smoke," he said. "It was a good fire by the time I saw it."

Firefighters evacuated workers from both buildings.

While fire officials weren't sure of the cause, Willingham said he wouldn't be surprised if it was started by homeless people who sleep near the railroad ties.

"They go in there to sleep day and night," he said.

Fire department spokesman Evert Wilson said: "I've heard a couple of witness reports that people were running from the fire. It's not necessarily a suspicious act. It's a smart act to run away from a fire."

Investigators reported today that the fire started in a shed used by transients, then spread to the railroad ties and then to the storage building.

Firefighters knocked down the blaze 23 minutes after arriving.

"That's a pretty good fire attack under adverse conditions," Wilson said.

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