Wednesday, May 25, 2005 | 10:59 a.m.
Metro Police and fire department officials are looking into whether squatters living in trailers on a storage lot near Nellis Air Force Base may have started a fire that destroyed three mobile homes early today.
Firefighters arrived at the storage yard at Cheyenne and Devry about 5:35 a.m., they saw people swarming out of it, abandoning cars, buses and mobile homes in which they apparently had been sleeping, Bob Leinbach, Clark County Fire Department, said.
"There are a lot of vehicles and run-down looking trailers. People are probably living in them," Leinbach said. "It's a whole other world down there."
The blaze started in the area around three mobile homes, which quickly ignited into high-arcing flames that filled the sky with fire and smoke that could be seen for miles, Leinbach said.
Because of the intensity of the fire, four different departments responded to the incident, including Clark County, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas Fire departments. Nellis Air Force Base sent a water tender because the area only had one fire hydrant, Leinbach said.
"That definitely limited our operations somewhat," Leinbach said, adding that firefighters still knocked down the fire in less than 30 minutes.
"Fortunately no one was killed and no one was injured. We did our job, but we did have some water supply challenges," Leinbach said.
The storage yard, which had no major identifying signs except a small placard reading "Rent Yard," is home to numerous stored items such as construction equipment, trailers, vehicles and other large items.
Leinbach said the materials appeared to be stored properly. Firefighters had no problems accessing the yard, despite having to run nearly 2,000 feet of fire hose to reach the flames.
Metro Police were concerned with the number of vehicles parked outside the yard, however, and police were seen walking up and down the street after the fire placing orange tow stickers on a number of the vehicles there.
"If those vehicles are parked there illegally, we have the right to tow them within 48 to 72 hours," said Metro Police spokesman Jose Montoya. "If people are staying there who aren't supposed to be there, we'll assist" firefighters conducting their investigation.
Leinbach had no estimate of damage to the trailers, but said there was "a ton of debris" from the fire. Firefighters also had to be concerned with several piles of mulch, which had to be hosed down to prevent the fire from spreading.
Leinbach said he believed the presence of just one fire hydrant probably met fire code requirements for the area because there were no abutting structures.
But if squatters are using the trailers, there could be other problems, he admitted.
Fire and police officials still were investigating the cause of the fire and interviewing the storage yard's owner about the squatter issue.
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