Trash ignites at old hotel

Thursday, May 29, 2003 | 9:50 a.m.

Piles of trash at a vacant hotel in downtown Las Vegas and at a salvage yard in North Las Vegas caused two spectacular fires that sent flames and smoke spiraling skyward Wednesday.

About 6 p.m. the Las Vegas Fire Department received numerous calls about the hotel fire, department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

The Town Palms Hotel at 321 Casino Center Drive near Bonneville Avenue was in the process of being torn down, he said.

Piles of trash in a courtyard of the old hotel caught fire, Szymanski said. It took about an hour to douse the blaze in the day's dry heat.

No one was injured in the fire, and firefighters are investigating the cause, Szymanski said.

An earlier fire took place at the Silver Dollar recycling plant on Losee Road near Interstate 15.

North Las Vegas Fire Department crews responded to the blaze about 4:10 p.m., Fire Chief Jimmy Johnson said.

The salvage yard had piles of paper, spools of wire, aluminum scraps and bundled materials that caught fire, Johnson said.

No other buildings were nearby.

Nine fire units responded to the blaze, with more than 25 people fighting the flames, Johnson said.

The Silver Dollar recycling yard has had fires in the past. In October 2002 Clark County firefighters contained a five-alarm fire at the yard that broke out in piles of material and junked cars awaiting recycling.

Recycling yard fires can sometimes burn for days, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said at the time.

Fires often smolder in piles of crushed car bodies, tires and plastics.

In March 1999 the same recycling plant burst into flames twice within 10 days. Those fires burned for at least 24 hours each.

The plant was then known as Nevada Recycling Inc.

There were no injuries in any of the four fires at the yard.