Residents recall terror of blast

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.

As firefighters searched through the wreckage of four apartments destroyed in an explosion that rocked a northeast Las Vegas neighborhood Monday night, 15-year-old Cesar Garcia wondered whether his pets were OK.

Garcia didn't have time to grab the cage of his family's two pet parakeets as he raced out of his apartment with his sister and mother while rubble rained down.

"The whole ceiling was falling down and we got out as fast as we could," Garcia's sister, Cynthia, said. "We didn't think. We just ran out."

The apartment directly above the Garcia's had exploded, sending debris and glass flying up to 100 feet away.

As firefighters searched through the destroyed apartments, one came across a bent mess of wires that was once a bird cage. Cesar and Cynthia reached inside what was once a cage and pulled out two quivering lumps of wet feathers.

"They're all wet and really cold, but I'm glad they're OK," Cesar said.

One of the birds showed its gratitude by pecking Cynthia Garcia a few times on the hand before the Garcia family, parakeets included, was taken to the complex's clubhouse to get aid from the Red Cross.

The explosion at the La Fiesta apartment complex at 1492 N. Lamb Blvd. left 64 residents in need of shelter from the Red Cross for the night, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

Only about 12 people lived in the four apartments that were severely damaged in the explosion, but all 16 apartments in the unit as well as some residents of a neighboring building had to be evacuated for the night after the utilities were turned off for safety reasons.

The Red Cross helped the residents find hotel rooms for the night as fire investigators tried to find the cause of the explosion that forced the people from their homes.

One of the residents that lived in the building said the power of the blast shocked him.

"I heard a roaring that built up, and then there was a huge bang," the resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said. "It was so powerful that it blew my door off. I got out by crawling over my balcony as fast as I could because I thought it might blow again."

Raymond Rocha and Jaime Dominguez witnessed the explosion from the street. They had just started driving down Vegas Green Trail, which runs behind the apartments, when the upper story of one of the buildings exploded.

"I didn't actually see it because I was driving, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a big flash of light," Rocha said. "I said, 'Lets get the hell out of here,' and swerved into the parking lot of the apartment complex next door. It took my breath away."

Dominguez was in the passenger seat and said he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"It was just like the movies," Dominguez said. "Fire shot out through the windows and then sucked right back in. Glass was flying everywhere and pieces of the building were hitting the car."

Dominguez and Rocha stopped in the parking lot of the Vegas Green Town Houses across the street and got out to find the lot littered with glass. While they were parking, Dannette Pennrod was in a nearby town house trying to explain to her daughter that a war was not breaking out.

"My 12-year-old daughter came running in and wanted to know if someone was dropping bombs on us," Pennrod said. "The whole building shook."

In a neighboring apartment building, Tamara Mayes and Jim Green were watching television. The blast blew their 4-month-old Pomeranian, Sugar Bear, off the floor. The 2-pound dog then scurried under a sofa for safety.

"It felt like an earthquake hit the place," Green said.

Teka Souza, a long-distance truck driver, was on the phone to her mother in Brazil when she felt the blast.

"I told my mom I had to get off the phone and call the police," Souza said while standing in her nightgown among shards of glass. "I usually park my truck on the street right in front of that apartment building, and if I would have had done it tonight, it would have been gone."

Sun reporters Diana Sahagun and Ed Koch contributed to this report.