8-month-old girl dies in apartment blaze

Jen Lawson and Stephen Curran

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

Her father and neighbors tried to rescue her, but an 8-month-old girl died this morning in an east Las Vegas apartment fire that investigators believe started in her bedroom, fire officials said.

Clark County Fire Department officials said electricity to the apartment had been shut off and a candle had started the blaze, which caused about $80,000 in damage. It was the second fatal fire caused by candles in the Clark County Fire Department's jurisdiction this year.

The fire began about 2:40 a.m. today at the Summerhill apartment complex at 3630 E. Owens Ave., near Pecos Road.

The baby's great uncle had been asleep in the apartment with the baby, Bob Leinbach, a spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department, said.

This morning, the man said he woke up but then passed out. He managed to escape, not realizing the baby was inside. The man refused to give his name.

The baby's father was outside when smoke began emerging from his second-floor unit.

Charles Rogers, a resident of the complex for three years, said he came home from work just before the fire started and saw the baby's father standing near the front gate with some friends.

Moments later he said he saw smoke and ran to the building.

"As soon as you got to the door you got choked," Rogers said as he sat alone on the ground in the shade, looking toward the burned apartment with anguish in his eyes.

"The father was screaming 'My baby's in there, my baby's in there.' "

Rogers said he and the father both entered the apartment and tried to get to the baby. He said the father fell while stumbling through the smoke inside the apartment and Rogers fell on him.

Rogers said he came out for air and went back in, getting down on his stomach, but he said, "The smoke kept getting lower and lower and it overcame me ... There were guys outside yelling, 'Come back out!' "

The baby, whom neighbors said was named Jaslyn, was dead when investigators found her, Leinbach said.

"We tried to do what we could but it was obvious the injuries were beyond recovery," he said.

The baby's father was burned during the blaze, Leinbach said.

Rogers said the baby's father should have been in the apartment with her, he said. He has four children of his own, ages 16, 14, 11 and 8.

"I'm angry and disgusted," he said. "He's a good guy, but she's an infant child and you just don't leave babies alone, not for a hot second."

Residents gathered in the complex this morning complained that the complex doesn't have adequate fire protection, saying that fire alarms go off regularly for no reason and many smoke detectors don't function.

When she heard the fire alarm this morning, resident Erika Adams said she dismissed it, but then she saw people running through the parking lot and realized it wasn't a false alarm this time.

They said some of the fire alarms didn't go off automatically last night and that residents had to pull them. According to Rogers, people tried to set off five different fire alarms but only one worked.

Neighbors said the baby was always smiling, and that she was the couple's firstborn. The baby's mother has been in the hospital for the past month or so.

"It's a baby. It's a baby," Rogers said softly."She's never done a thing in the world to anyone."