Woman dies in NW valley house fire

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Published Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009 | 7:57 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009 | 10:50 p.m.

A woman was found dead in a house in the northwest Las Vegas Valley on Tuesday night as firefighters put out a blaze in a smoke-filled, second-story bedroom, the Las Vegas Fire Department said.

Neighbors called 911 at 7:11 p.m. to report a fire at the house in the 7200 block of Grand Palace Avenue, near Ann Road and U.S. 95. The neighbors said they believed someone might be in the bedroom, fire officials said.

Firefighters forced their way into the house through the front door, encountering light smoke. As they made their way upstairs, the smoke got thicker. They found a closed bedroom door and determined the fire was in the bedroom, officials said.

The room was filled with thick black smoke nearly down to the floor, the Fire Department reported. As they fought to put out the blaze, firefighters found an adult woman on a bed. Paramedics determined the woman was dead, officials said.

The woman’s identity was not immediately released. Firefighters had the fire out within just a few minutes, officials said.

The cause of the fire and the cause of the woman’s death are under investigation by Las Vegas fire investigators, Metro homicide detectives and the Clark County Coroner’s Office, which is standard procedure in any fatal fire, the Fire Department said.

If the woman died in the fire, it would be this sixth fire fatality this year in the city of Las Vegas.