Explosion nearly destroys apartment building

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.

Fire and insurance investigators today are sifting through the remains of an apartment building that was nearly destroyed Monday night to determine what caused a fiery explosion that blasted the roof, walls and furniture of a second-story apartment into the night sky.

The apartment's resident was catapulted to safety by the blast and taken to University Medical Center, where he was treated for minor burns, fire officials said.

Michael McGilbra, 40, told authorities on the scene that one minute he was in his home and the next, crashing to the ground, after his northwest corner unit in the La Fiesta apartment complex's Building 5 off Lamb Boulevard and Owens Avenue blew up and burst into flames about 5:45 p.m. Monday.

McGilbra was listed in "good condition" Tuesday morning.

Three children who lived in the building were also treated at UMC's pediatric unit for what officials described as minor cuts from flying glass.

Ten people, five of them children, were in the building when it exploded, but there were no other injuries.

The blast's intensity shot off half the building's tiled roof and the second story's north- and west-facing walls. Four apartments out of the building's 16 were destroyed. Grass and asphalt were blanketed as far as 100 feet away with split wooden framing, shards of stucco, yellowed insulation and shattered glass.

By morning, fire officials were shoring up crumbling walls before they entered the site to investigate.

Motorists slowed and even stopped to gaze on a site that looked more like war-torn Baghdad than northeast Las Vegas.

A couch lying on its back was wedged within a metal and stone staircase, where it landed after flying through a hole blasted in the building.

A white-framed crib, visible through a missing wall, stood in contrast to charred, black roof just above.

Bicycles were blown from porches and lay broken and twisted where they fell.

Fire officials planned to erect a cyclone fence to keep gawkers at a safe distance.

Authorities were hesitant to even comment on a cause as late as this morning until investigative teams could move in, study burn patterns and sift through the rubble for an explanation. No causes, including natural gas, had been ruled out.

Tim Szymanski, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman, expected the on-site investigation could take as many as three days. Authorities could be waiting weeks for lab results, should investigators discover any unusual substances needing testing.

No damage estimate is available.

The newly completed complex began leasing to tenants in late August.

"God was looking down on us tonight," UMC Nursing Supervisor Patricia Morris said. "Think of the number of people who could have been injured."

Morris said McGilbra had a tiny burn on his face and some singed hair. He was kept under observation overnight and resting at the hospital this morning.

About 75 firefighters had the two-alarm fire controlled within an hour.

"What happened in there is something you don't see every day in this job," said Darrell Aronson, a Las Vegas firefighter with Station 4, after climbing down from the blasted second floor.

Aronson and his teammates scaled Building 5's east-side stairwell, which was still intact, and made a precarious trek from room to room across the second floor searching for victims.

"Closet doors were blown out, and bedroom furnishings and clothes were everywhere," said Aronson, whose team was also helping to extinguish the fire's last smoldering trails that firefighters tracked using thermal imaging cameras.

Metro Police's K-9 teams were called in shortly before 7 p.m., when officials were temporarily unable to locate seven of the building's residents who at that time were unaccounted for.

Officer Mike Horn's dog, Dak, stirred onlookers' fears of a trapped victim when he started barking and jumping while on the ground just below the blasted north wall.

K-9 teams completed their search, finding no victims, about the time authorities on the ground were able to make contact with the seven people, who were all found to be in good health.

"Most of the blast went eastbound, the kitchen cabinets went through the wall, and there was food everywhere," Horn said after searching the building. "The blast knocked the door off a refrigerator and pushed the refrigerator back east. The only thing that stopped it was a washer and dryer."

Sgt. Rory Tuggle said nails and glass were all over the place. His own dog, Cigan, cut a paw.

Building inspectors condemned the structure as unsafe. Residents were provided food and shelter by the American Red Cross.

Sixty-two people were evacuated from two buildings -- the one involved in the blast and a neighboring one that was damaged. By morning, residents were asking to return to their apartments to retrieve belongings, but were turned away by fire officials because of unsafe conditions.

At evening turned to night, Public Works brought in its street sweepers to clear glass, wood and exploded mounds of roofing material from the roadways. Its heavy equipment also moved debris off gas and electric meters, some of which were damaged in the blast.

Both natural gas and electrical supplies were cut off to the building.

Southwest Gas Co. crews checked all the piping and 16 meters attached to the damaged building, Southwest spokesman Roger Buehrer said.

"The meters for the entire complex and the system in the ground were intact," Buehrer said, adding that there was no drop in pipeline pressure after the explosion.

Two power meters attached to the building were shut down by Nevada Power officials.

Sun reporters Ed Koch and Mary Manning contributed to this report.