Blaze destroys four condos near UNLV

Erica Johnson and Ed Koch

Wednesday, June 6, 2001 | 10:52 a.m.

A laundry basket full of black dachshund puppies was the only thing Gail Cox and her 15-year-old daughter, Stormy Hinkler, could salvage when a two-alarm fire ripped through their condominium early today.

Cox said she watched as her pet bird, which she bought Tuesday, was killed when the fire that she believes started on her patio moved into the living room and through her house, destroying three other units in the 4400 block of Shortleaf Street, a short distance from UNLV.

"I've lost everything -- absolutely everything," Cox said. "I usually have renter's insurance, but I don't this time."

Cox said she awoke at 5 a.m., but it wasn't until almost 7 a.m. that her daughter said she smelled smoke coming from the patio. By then, she said, flames and smoke were everywhere.

There were no deaths or injuries to firefighters or others, officials said, noting the first alarm was sounded at 6:49 a.m. The second alarm went off a few minutes later.

Cox called the fire department before she and her daughter rescued the five 3-week-old puppies and their mother.

A thick column of black smoke hung over the neighborhood bounded by University Avenue, Bruce Street and Harmon Avenue. The smoke hampered firefighters as they tried to extinguish the intense blaze.

"If this were (Tuesday), the winds would have blown this smoke right out of here, but today, it is just heavy air," said Bob Leinbach, spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department.

The condition is commonly called stagnant air. It's the same atmospheric condition that holds in smog over the valley, which also was thick today.

Leinbach said when it appeared all residents had left the structure and no further threat to human life was apparent, firefighters pulled back as the roof of the structure threatened to collapse around them.

"We are fighting this fire externally," he said. 'It is going to take us quite a while to knock it down. There is going to be lots of loss."

Damage estimates were not immediately available.

Some area residents had to be evacuated because of the smoke, Leinbach said.

As the smoke crept along the ground to the northwest, Leinbach called officials at Rowe Elementary at 4338 South Bruce St. to warn them to keep students inside.

More than 50 Clark County and city of Las Vegas firefighters pooled their resources to battle the blaze, Leinbach said.