Apartments being rebuilt after fire burn once again

Jennifer Lawson

Monday, June 14, 2004 | 11 a.m.

An apartment building on Tropicana Avenue near Nellis Boulevard that was being rebuilt after a fire last year caught fire again this morning.

Clark County firefighters called to the Sonoma Hills Complex, 5100 E. Tropicana, about 8:20 a.m. found flames shooting from an eight-unit building.

The fire caused about $950,000 in damage, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

Nobody was living in the building, which was under construction as a result of a fire last year, Leinbach said.

Eight occupied apartments nearby also were damaged, he said.

Cordarryll Sampson lives in one of those eight apartments and he was worried that his clothes and expensive sneakers might have been ruined. caught fire.

"These apartments are raggedy, all made of wood," he said. "They need to tear them down."

The cause of the fire was still being determined this morning, Leinbach said.

Residents of the complex said children and homeless people often went into the building.

"I don't know if someone is doing this on purpose for attention," Lynette Shumpert said, as she stood in the parking lot in a fleece robe. "A lot of people go in there and smoke. The bums kick it in there and there are always little boys running in and out of it."

She said the building that caught fire is too close to her apartment and she plans to move out.