Fire damages two homes in northwest Las Vegas

Heather Rawlyk

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

If Elizabeth Manning could have had one wish on her birthday Wednesday, it would have been to have her home back.

Manning was in the street helping her husband, Bill, install a compact disc player she was given for her birthday into her pickup truck. That was at 2:50 p.m., and soon after she noticed smoke coming from the back of the house, according to Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski.

The woman ran into her house, in the 2000 block of San Simeon Street near Lake Mead and Jones boulevards, to alert her 17-year-old daughter Krystan, who was taking a shower, Szymanski said. Meanwhile, her husband ran to the back yard and tried to put out the fire with a garden hose.

Manning and her daughter ran through the house, which at that point wasn't filled with smoke, and gathered several pets that were inside. When the two returned inside the house to collect the rest of their pets, the one-story, wood-paneled house was full of thick black smoke, Szymanski said.

"Neighbors were yelling at them to get out of the house," Szymanski said.

The home's three occupants and their pets, which included a dog, five kittens and two birds, escaped without injury, he said.

The fire continued to grow and spread to a one-story home next door, he said.

"Both of those homes are built with wood paneling, not stucco like most houses in Las Vegas, and that contributed to the quick spreading," Szymanski said.

The neighboring home was in the process of being renovated and was unoccupied at the time.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze in about 10 minutes, Szymanski said. One firefighter received a minor shoulder injury and was taken to the hospital to be treated, he said.

The total damage for both homes came in at $275,000, he said. The American Red Cross is assisting in relocating the three occupants.

While the cause is still unknown, investigators believe the fire started near a doggy door, Szymanski said.

Elizabeth Manning said she had no idea what could have caused the fire.

"I don't know, but I'm glad we got our pets out," Manning said. "Everything but our fish. I had fish in there.

"This is some birthday," she said.