Man dies from injuries in garage fire

By Mary Manning

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009 | 2:47 p.m.

A man burned on his back, arms and head in a garage fire earlier this month died last week from his injuries.

The man in his mid-70s was at his home at 1849 Spangle Drive, which near West Lake Mead Boulevard and Torrey Pines Drive, at about 8 a.m. Aug. 1, said Tim Szymanski, spokesman for the Las Vegas Fire Department.

He went into a restroom near the garage of the two-story house and heard noises coming from the garage, Szymanski said. The man noticed light smoke coming through the door from inside the house.

When the man opened the door to the garage, he found it was full of smoke, Szymanski said. Fire investigators believe the man let in a flow of oxygen to the garage, which caused the blaze to flash.

As the man turned away, he received serious burns on more than 27 percent of his body to his head, neck and both arms, Szymanski said. He was able to talk to paramedics at the scene, and to fire investigators at the hospital, but his condition deteriorated and he died last week.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they saw thick, black smoke and the garage was engulfed in flames, Szymanski said.

The man had told investigators said he had lived in the house for more than 20 years. The Clark County Coroner's Office has not released the man's name.

The man's death was the fifth fire fatality in the city of Las Vegas this year. A Clark County School District teacher became the sixth fatality on Tuesday.