Officials seek clues in fire that killed baby girl

Beth Slovic

Thursday, July 15, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.

Authorities are continuing to investigate an apartment fire that took the life of a 7-month-old girl early Wednesday morning to determine if anyone should be held responsible for the fire or the child's death.

The fire happened around 2:40 a.m. Wednesday after a candle ignited a blaze inside the apartment complex at 3630 E. Owens Ave., near Pecos Road, fire officials said. Nevada Power Company had turned off electricity in the apartment around noon that same day, a spokeswoman for the company said.

Now investigators are faced with the task of determining whether or not to charge members of Jesslyn Smith's family with child endangerment. And they also are sorting through accusations from other residents that the complex didn't provide adequate protection from the fire and smoke, an accusation a spokeswoman for the complex denied.

"We are shocked and saddened by this unfortunate tragedy," said Kathy Manning, a spokeswoman for the Summerhill apartments in a prepared statement. "We go to great efforts to ensure the safety and care of all of our residents, including but not limited to quarterly inspections with an alarm monitoring company last conducted in May of 2004."

A sleeping relative managed to escape the fire inside the apartment. But he said he didn't know the child was still inside when he left.

The child's father, James Smith, was outside when the fire erupted, authorities said. The girl's mother, Constance Smith, was not home at the time of the fire, Lt. Jeff Carlson of the Metro police department, said. Neighbors said she was hospitalized.

Last month Constance Smith abandoned Jesslyn at a gas station, police said, and the Department of Family Services began working with her father to ensure the baby was being properly cared for.

The agency had eight contacts with James Smith and his sister, who was helping care for her. The last visit was July 8 and Jesslyn appeared to be healthy and safe, family services director Susan Klein-Rothschild said.

"This is a reminder of how vulnerable young children are," she said. "It's such a tragedy."

The Clark County coroner's office has not yet performed an autopsy on Jesslyn. But Metro Police said they may charge members of the girl's family with child endangerment for leaving her unattended.

Neighbors complained Wednesday that smoke detectors in the complex did not work. They also said some of the fire alarms did not go off and that residents had to trigger them to alert other residents to the danger.

In the last 12 months, firefighters had responded to six calls from the complex, according to Bob Leinbach, a spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department.

One was in response to a dryer fire, he said. And residents at the complex said that fire happened to have occurred in the same apartment that burned Wednesday.

By law, the management company running the complex must employ a licensed business to check its smoke detectors and fire alarms four times a year.

"They're required to have a maintenance agreement so that those systems are checked and serviced periodically." Donna Starks, a Clark County deputy fire marshall, said. In its statement, the company said it had done this.

Simpson Housing Solutions, a California-based developer, built the 221-unit afforable housing complex in 1999. At that time the rents ranged in price from $620 to $766, a spokesman for the housing company said.

Horizon Property Management now runs the complex.

Power to the apartment had been shut off because of the bill hadn't been paid, authorities said. Jesslyn's aunt paid the outstanding balance Tuesday but the electricity hadn't yet been restored.

For residents who cannot pay their bills, programs are available to assist them. One is the Energy Assistance Program administered by the state with money collected by Nevada Power Co. in the form of a surcharge on all customers's bills.

"Anytime a customer is having difficult paying their bills, they should call the company," Headen said."We try to work with them on extended payment programs on a case by case basis."

Residents interested in the state's Energy Assistance Program can call 1-866-846-2009, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.