Bush’s visit delays explosion probe

Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 | 9:10 a.m.

Investigators looking into a house fire that gutted a Summerlin home early Thursday morning were delayed in their effort to determine the cause of the blaze by President Bush's visit to Las Vegas, a spokesman for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue said.

Bomb squad officials were on call Thursday for the president's visit, leaving investigators too short on staff to begin the investigation into the fire, which broke out just after midnight in the garage of the 2,500-square-foot home at 444 Crocus Hill St. in Summerlin, Tim Szymanski, a spokesman for the department, said.

Dean and Brenda Deffner and their two children Dylan and Devon managed to escape the burning house without injury. But their 13-year-old gray Schnauzer Jewels died in the blaze, and their 2-year-old cat Chealsey was still missing late Thursday night.

Crews initially waited for the sun to come up before beginning the investigation because the fire had made the house unstable, Szymanski said. He said investigators expected to investigate sometime today.

On Thursday afternoon a private company responding to the accident erected a fence around the home to prevent neighbors and onlookers from getting too close to the scene, which continued to pose a danger. A twisted and crumpled garage door that blew off the front of the house when the explosion occurred sat about 100 feet away from the house across the street in a neighhor's yard.

A spokesman for Southwest Gas said natural gas likely was not the cause of the fire at the house the Deffners bought in August 2003 for $310,859. But fire investigators have not ruled anything out yet.

Buddy Flint, a consultant for a company specializing in rebuilding homes after disasters, responded to the accident. He said homeowners could prevent accidents such as the one at the Deffner house by taking important precautions.

Flint recommended: