Luck doesn’t hold out

Dan Kulin

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

Two days after his apartment and most of the building it was in were destroyed by fire, Billy Ray Luck was down on his, staying at a temporary shelter, unsure where he'll end up.

Luck, 41, an out-of-work mason, was one of about 100 people who had to move out of the Casa Palms apartments, 700 Las Vegas Blvd. North, after fire ripped through one of its four three-story buildings Friday.

The blaze started in the wall of a third-floor apartment after a worker had been welding pipes, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue said.

The fire, which fire officials said was accidental, spread quickly through the walls and caused an estimated $850,000 in damage, the statement said.

Two people were treated for smoke inhalation, one was taken to a hospital, and another person's hands were burned, but that victim refused medical attention. Also, of the 88 firefighters who battled the blaze, one firefighter had a heat-related injury and another firefighter injured his hand, the statement said.

Christopher Williams, 47, who lives across the parking lot from the burned building, said he watched firefighters battle the blaze from outside his apartment for a little while.

The fire, which started around 10:14 a.m. Friday, appeared to have been contained to one apartment at first, Williams said.

"Then all of a sudden there were flames out of an apartment on the second floor, and then the windows in three or four apartment exploded," Williams said.

Williams said the scene was scary because some of the residents in the $460-a-month studio apartments are older, or disabled.

When firefighters then evacuated the residents from the complex, Williams went to his father's home down the street.

"When I came back I didn't expect to see this kind of devastation," Williams said.

The smell of burning paint and wood still hung in the air Sunday afternoon. All the windows in the white and green building were broken, and the apartments on the second and third floors were blackened. Except for the broken windows, however, some of the first-floor apartments looked like they weren't affected.

Friday night the American Red Cross provided temporary shelter to about 65 Casa Palms residents at the nearby Reed Whipple Cultural Center, Red Cross volunteer Ted Zidenberg said.

With more people either staying with friends or relatives, or in new apartments, the Red Cross had 55 at the make-shift shelter Saturday night, and 15 or so Sunday, he said.

Zidenberg said they hope to find the remaining residents a new place to stay by today or Tuesday.

As Casa Palms residents had to leave their homes in a hurry, many left without needed medication, a change of clothes, or anything else. Red Cross officials and volunteers worked to help those displaced get new medicine and clothes. A nurse visited the temporary shelter Saturday.

Luck, dressed in a new Red Cross T-shirt Sunday, said he grabbed his television on the way out the door Friday.

"It was just a spur of the moment thing. It was something to grab so it's not a total loss," he said.

Luck said he now faces an uncertain future. He had just recently paid his rent for the month, "and I don't have any money."

"For someone with the last name of Luck, I'm not having much lately," he said.

Resident Janet Swanson's hand was wrapped in white bandages after she was treated for burns to her fingertips.

"I walked into the bathroom and noticed there was smoke coming out of the hole under the faucet," Swanson said. "I tried to turn on the water and that's when I burnt my hand, the faucet was so hot."

Richard Lee Salyers, a resident who said he is retired from the Army, said he was worried about his 12 pet birds that were inside the apartment during the fire.

"I was told they are over at the Mojave Animal Shelter and that I have 10 days to go get them," he said. "I just hope they're all still alive."

Salyers, who uses a wheelchair, said he was uncertain how he would get to the animal shelter to collect his birds.

Zidenberg said the Red Cross is working to try to get some rent money back for displaced residents.

Luck said maybe he will be able to move into another apartment at Casa Palms, like some of the others whose homes were destroyed by the fire have.

"It's up in the air right now," he said.

Casa Palms representatives could not be reached for comment Sunday.