Las Vegas news briefs for December 31, 2002

Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2002 | 11:37 a.m.

Car repair leads to house fire

A man making repairs on his car inadvertently started a fire that destroyed his home Monday, fire department officials said.

The fire started Monday in the car behind a home at 5495 Tami Place, near Mountain Vista Street and Russell Road.

The man was doing some work around his car with gasoline and flammable liquids, and then left the house, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

The fire somehow started in the car and then moved to the shake-shingle roof of the home. The fire destroyed the home, causing an estimated $225,000 in damage.

The fire has been ruled accidental, Leinbach said.

Woman killed in rollover on I-15

A rollover accident near Primm killed a woman and sent four adults to University Medical Center this morning.

The accident happened about 6:40 a.m. on Interstate 15 about 45 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jim Olschlager said.

During the single-vehicle accident one woman was thrown from the car and died at the scene, Olschlager said. Her name and age were not available this morning.

Four others in the car were not thrown from the vehicle, but were injured and taken to UMC. Three teenage boys, ages 17, 18 and 19, and one teen girl, 18, were taken to UMC and were in fair condition this morning.

The car was headed northbound on I-15 when the driver apparently lost control and the car rolled. The NHP is investigating the cause of the accident.

Diseased chickens destroyed in Calif.

California officials ordered the destruction of 1 million chickens infected with Newcastle disease and expanded a quarantine to two more counties.

The virus, which is harmless to humans but threatens the state's $3 billion poultry industry, was found in 1 million hens at an egg farm in western San Bernardino County, authorities said Monday.

State officials also expanded a quarantine area to include San Diego County after the virus was found in a commercial flock of 75,000 birds there. Orange County also was added to the quarantine list -- although it has no commercial poultry operations -- to prevent the potential transport of infected birds.

Poultry and poultry products cannot be moved out of quarantined areas, although eggs can be transported if they are washed and placed in new packaging.