Blaze causes $3.25 million in damage at construction site

Monday, June 24, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.

A three-alarm fire caused $3.25 million worth of damage to a housing development under construction Sunday night, sending black smoke over the Las Vegas Valley.

Las Vegas and Clark County firefighters responded to the construction site at Madre Mesa and Decatur Boulevard, near Smoke Ranch Road, about 7:30 p.m.

Flames spread quickly through the 20 frames of houses as daytime temperatures reached 103 degrees.

"We have no idea what caused the fire at this time," Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said late Sunday. Firefighters continued to douse hot spots into the night.

One woman watching the fire was overcome by smoke, but paramedics treated her at the scene.

About 20 people were evacuated from six homes on nearby Meadows Lily Avenue. None of them were injured.

Six occupied homes on Meadows Lily Avenue were damaged by heat, but the occupants were allowed to return to the homes.

Other houses under construction in northwest Las Vegas have gone up in smoke recently.

Five single-family houses sparked a two-alarm fire causing $300,000 in damages on Sept. 20 near U.S. 95 and Grand Teton Drive.

Another nine homes under construction near Durango Drive and Peace Way burned in a four-alarm blaze that damaged six nearby occupied homes on Aug. 16.