Fire alarm, neighbor’s call helps save three-month-old girl

Karen Zekan

Thursday, Sept. 3, 1998 | 5:05 a.m.

Kathryn McClelen had gone to bed about 2:30 this morning when the beeping started.

She didn't think much of it at first. But about 20 minutes later, as smoke started filtering into her apartment, the 911 call McClelen made to emergency dispatchers ended up saving the lives of a neighbor upstairs and his 3-month-old baby girl.

Clark County firefighters arrived at the Flamingo Polo Club apartments, 3188 E. Flamingo Road, within minutes and deduced from the smoke pattern that the fire was above McClelen's apartment, officials said.

Racing upstairs, the team kicked down the door after hearing a baby crying.

"The smoke was so thick, they couldn't see anything when they got in the apartment," said Steve La-Sky, Clark County Fire Department spokesman.

Within seconds, however, they were able to make out the shape of a crib in the blackness. Firefighter-paramedic Robin Brown, unique to the team because of his prosthetic arm, scooped up the child and rushed her outside to safety as teammates searched the apartment and found a sleeping man in a back bedroom with the door shut, La-Sky said.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze, although a cause and damage estimate had not been determined this morning.

"This is a classic example of how smoke detectors save lives," La-Sky said. "If Kathryn McClelen had disregarded the alarm and not called 911 for help, this baby would not have survived."

The baby's identity was not released, but the pediatric unit at Sunrise Hospital reported at mid-morning today that she was not burned and is in good condition.