Mytae Carrasco

A fire caused more than $400,000 in damage to a home late Wednesday at 2900 Channel Rock Drive. The fire started in the kitchen and injured a woman inside the home.

By Mary Manning (contact)

Thu, Nov 20, 2008 (8:13 a.m.)

A two-alarm fire gutted a home in the western Las Vegas Valley at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, injuring one person, and causing an estimated $750,000 in damage.

Las Vegas firefighters arrived at 2900 Channel Rock Drive near Fort Apache Road and Sahara Avenue to find a cooking fire had spread from the kitchen stove throughout the two-story home in Lake Estates, said Tim Szymanski, spokesman for the Las Vegas Valley Fire Department.

Three adults lived at the home. A woman was injured with second-degree burns to her hands and arms and first-degree burns to her face, Szymanski said. She was taken to the hospital for treatment of her burns. Her son and husband weren't home at the time of the fire.

The family declined assistance from the American Red Cross of Nevada branch, Szymanski said.

A 12-foot python and a 3-foot lizard were rescued from the flames, Szymanski said, but a 4-foot lizard and a pet cat couldn't be found.

Firefighters could see flames engulfing the back of the house and they soon spread throughout the home, Szymanski said -- that's when a second alarm was called. Other homes in the neighborhood weren't damaged.

A woman cooking with oil at the time told fire investigators she tried to put the fire out, but it grew quickly. The family built the home in the Lakes in 1989 and has lived there ever since, Szymanski said.