Apartment fire leaves 30 homeless

Eric Leake

Monday, July 11, 2005 | 11 a.m.

Arely Reyas searched the charred debris in front of Woodhaven Apartments Sunday afternoon for her kitten.

"We're looking for her cat, Vanessa, a little black kitty," said Natalie Herrera, Arely's sister. "Have you seen her?"

Arely, 15, said she was alerted by a neighbor shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday that her apartment building was on fire.

"Somebody was banging on the window. I looked out this window," she said, motioning to a boarded-over scorched frame, "and the door was already on fire."

Arely said she had time only to grab some clothes and run out the burning doorway. She didn't know where her kitten was. "I had to leave," she said.

Nobody was seriously injured in the fire, though one child did suffer a foot laceration, firefighters said.

Fire investigators this morning were continuing to try to determine the cause of the fire.

Damages to the building, which is now uninhabitable, were estimated at $750,000. Apartment management declined comment Sunday afternoon until they speak with the owners. County records show the property belongs to Stober LLC in Oakland, Calif.

The fire left more than 30 residents of the two-story, 16-unit building without homes Sunday evening. The building is part of a larger apartment complex at3650 Stober Blvd. near Arville Street at Twain Avenue.

The American Red Cross was providing hotel rooms, clothes and food to those residents who need assistance. Others may temporarily stay with relatives.

Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said firefighters were called to the blaze at 9:09 a.m. They arrived five minutes later, he said, to find a fire that quickly spread from a downstairs corner apartment to the roof.

"Once it gets to the roof, you're trying to knock it down but you can't do it rapidly," Leinbach said. "It has access to a lot more fuel, and it has a lot more of the oxygen it needs."

He said it took about 50 firefighters 45 minutes to get the two-alarm fire under control.

Leinbach said firefighters subdued the fire and were checking the building when a resident approached them and said he had 600 rounds of ammunition and black powder in his apartment.

"We were in the building at the time, but we hadn't gotten to where that was," Leinbach said. "We pulled all our units away from that area."

He said that the man told firefighters he works as a security guard and had returned home from work to warn them about the ammunition.

"It's not illegal," Leinbach said. "It's good to know that (the location of the ammunition) so we can be aware of it."

Dagoberto Miranda, 27, lives in a building neighboring the one that burned. He was leaving his apartment Sunday morning when he noticed smoke.

"In like 15 minutes it was all on fire," Miranda said of the building. "They couldn't save anything. It happened so quick."

The American Red Cross reported that 37 people lived in the building and that all had been contacted.

Disaster Services Chairman Richard Foster said apartment management has been helpful in relocating the residents. He said seven of the 15 displaced families had been placed in open apartments in the complex.

Foster added that the American Red Cross is in need of volunteers and monetary donations. To help, call 791-3311 or visit www.redcrosslasvegas.org.