Downtown apartment fire leaves two men homeless

Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

A candle left unattended in a downtown apartment sparked a fire that left two men homeless Tuesday and did an estimated $40,000 in damage to a bedroom.

"I lost everything I had, all my clothes, everything," resident Charlie Eldridge said. "I had computers in there."

Eldridge, who has lived at the one-story complex on the 1300 block of Casino Center Boulevard intermittently for 17 years, said his electricity was turned off at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Edgar Patino, a spokesman for Nevada Power, confirmed that power had been shut off to a unit in that complex Tuesday morning and that the company had given the resident 10 days notice that it would be turned off, then followed up with a reminder notice 48 hours prior to turning off the electricity. Those notifications are sent when a customer of the utility is delinquent in paying a bill.

Neither Eldridge nor his neighbor, Paul Hazelwood, was injured in the fire. The American Red Cross was arranging temporary shelter for them Tuesday night.

"I live right next to him," Hazelwood said, pointing to the duplex.

"My apartment smells smoky," Hazelwood said, moving a red and white bicycle away from the one-story wood frame building as Las Vegas Fire & Rescue firefighters continued to check for hot spots after the 4:30 p.m. blaze.

Eldridge, a retired barber, said he lit candles inside his apartment, then left to go to the market for about an hour. When he returned home, firefighters were hosing flames bursting from his bedroom window.

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said no one was injured in the fire.

"We had the fire out in five minutes," he said.

Szymanski said this fire underscores the importance of not leaving lighted candles unattended.

"We've had six to eight fires started from unattended candles in the past three weeks," Szymanski said.

Lit candles, like the three found in Eldridge's apartment, need to be in a saucer or other non-combustible container and they should never be placed near curtains or clothing, Szymanski said.

Benjamin Cabrera, an owner of the apartment complex, said the building where the fire occurred was scheduled for remodeling.

"It's going to cost a lot more," Cabrera said, watching water drain from the apartment.

The complex has been known as Colorado Cottages since February, Cabrera said. The 10 units had housed nine people until Tuesday night, he said.

Asked if candles should be banned from apartments, Cabrera shook his head no. "You can't not allow candles, because then you couldn't allow people to have birthday cakes," he said.

The complex is in the area the city hopes to turn into an artists' haven.

"This is in the downtown arts district," said Lloyd Appleby, who was at a nearby laundromat when he heard sirens and ran to the apartments.

The apartment grounds bore artistic touches. The north side of one of the buildings had a mural reading, "The Birth of an Art Scene."

Some of the concrete blocks of the sidewalk glittered with glass beads and other decorations. A plastic Santa shared one wall with boxes and a broom.

But outside Eldridge's apartment the scorched springs from a bed sat in the dust.