Southwest LV apartment blaze forces 20 from homes

Jace Radke

Tuesday, July 31, 2001 | 9:39 a.m.

A Metro Police officer suffered smoke inhalation while alerting residents in a southwest Las Vegas apartment building of a fire Monday evening.

Officer William Webb was in the area of Tropicana Avenue and Decatur Boulevard about 5:45 p.m. when he spotted smoke coming from the Renaissance Villas II apartments, 5445 W. Reno Ave.

Webb went door to door warning the residents of the apartment building and helping them outside. The officer was later taken to University Medical Center where he was treated and released for smoke inhalation.

The fire began in a clogged lint filter in a dryer in a downstairs apartment, but quickly spread to an upstairs unit, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

"The wind conditions were exactly wrong to fight the fire," Leinbach said. "The flames climbed the outside of the building and got into the attic."

About 6:15 p.m. a second alarm was called for the fire to insure that there was enough equipment and firefighters to handle the fire, Leinbach said.

The fire caused an estimated $200,000 in damage and displaced about 20 people from their homes. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion at the scene.

For another firefighter the blaze was his first chance to put his the skills he learned in the academy to the test.

"It was my first fire, and it was really ripping when we got here," firefighter Mack Travis said. "I'm just sorry this happened to these people."

Travis has only been with the department for about 7 months, and is a former professional football player.

"If I couldn't be a pro athlete, this is the job I wanted to do," said Travis, who said he played for the Detroit Lions from 1993 to 1995. "This was a big adrenaline rush, and I love being a firefighter."