Sprinklers douse fire in senior housing

Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2003 | 9:23 a.m.

For the second time in less than a month, an automatic sprinkler stopped a fire in a downtown Las Vegas Monday.

Firefighters arrived at the Margaret Rose Residential Care Center, 100 S. 14th St. at Fremont at 5:11 p.m. on Monday, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

A fire had been reported in a second-floor room of the three-story building, Szymanski said. Firefighters found the flames had been doused by the sprinkler.

Although 76 elderly tenants were evacuated briefly, no one was injured.

A portion of a mattress and a small area of the wall next to a bed were damaged. The estimated damage is $3,000, Szymanski said.

A 72-year-old man who lives in the apartment was smoking in bed, using a Styrofoam cup as an ashtray, Szymanski said. The cup caught fire and when the man tried to put out the flames, the blaze grew larger, he said.

A sprinkler system also doused a kitchen fire at the Park Avenue Apartments in downtown Las Vegas after a tenant left for work on Oct. 15 with a pan still on the stove, Szymanski said. No one was hurt in that fire either, and damage was estimated at less than $5,000.

Also Monday, a vacant apartment building near Vegas Drive and Decatur Boulevard sustained an estimated $150,000 in damage after a fire started Monday.