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By Jackie Valley (contact) 
Published Sunday, July 11, 2010 | 10:33 a.m.
Updated Monday, July 12, 2010 | 8:49 a.m.
Transformer explosion
UPDATED STORY: Opportunity Village looks to rebuild after thrift store fire
Firefighters battled a blaze Sunday evening at a thrift store near the location where an explosion rocked the downtown area earlier in the day.
Las Vegas Fire and Rescue firefighters responded at 5:55 p.m. to the fire at Opportunity Village's thrift store at 10 Coolidge Ave. The smoke from the fire could be seen across the Las Vegas Valley.
Fire department spokesman Tim Szymanski said several people were across the street when smoke started to come from the building. Flames were seen through the roof within minutes.
Szymanski estimated that about 35 percent of the building was destroyed. The roof collapsed over the middle 30 percent, but many of the contents in that area can be saved, he said. The rest of the building suffered only smoke and slight water damage.
A firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Earlier in the day, employees of Opportunity Village waited behind police tape on First Street for more information after learning the thrift store had sustained broken windows during an early morning transformer explosion nearby.
Stephen Miller, special events manager for Opportunity Village, said Sunday evening that the fire would displace several Opportunity Village employees who work at the store. Opportunity Village serves 900 people with intellectual disabilities, about 14 of whom work at the location.
"The next step is we have to figure out where to place the people who work there," Miller said.
The early morning transformer explosion sent two bystanders to the hospital and caused considerable damage to nearby buildings.
Szymanski said the fire department received a call at 6:36 a.m. about an explosion at what witnesses thought was a vacant building at 1004 S. Main. The building is actually a substation of NV Energy surrounded by brick walls to disguise the transformers in the arts district.
Two people on the street at the time of the explosion were taken to University Medical Center suffering from shrapnel wounds and smoke inhalation. Their injuries weren't life-threatening, Szymanski said.
Flying bricks and shrapnel from the explosion broke windows and caused other damage to nearby buildings, he said.
Fire crews saw fire coming from the building when they arrived but were unable to extinguish the blaze until power was shut off due to the high voltage, Szymanski said. The power eventually was shut off and the fire was put out by 8:15 a.m.
Fire officials also discovered a gas leak near the explosion at Coolidge Avenue and First Street coming from beneath the street. Southwest Gas turned the gas off in that vicinity as well, and the gas leak was stopped by 8:45 a.m.
Szymanski said officials are investigating whether the gas leak, explosion and Opportunity Village fire are related. "There is no indication at this time that any of the three incidents are connected," Szymanski said in a statement Monday morning.
NV Energy crews said they're working with Las Vegas Fire and Rescue investigators to determine the cause of the substation's equipment explosion.
Fire officials said the earlier explosion appears accidental in nature, but it will be at least four days before tests are completed to determine the cause.
Main Street, First Street and Commerce Street between Bonneville Avenue and Charleston Boulevard were closed to traffic. About 25 people were evacuated from apartments near the gas leak.
The Las Vegas Building and Safety Department checked nearby buildings for damage.
Near the corner of First and Coolidge, shards of glass from broken windows littered the sidewalk a block away from the site of the explosion.
Unfortunately several of the businesses in the arts district along Main Street including PLACE gallery lost their windows. We were very fortunate that this did not happen last night during Contemporary Arts Center's festival at the Arts Factory.
Timing was indeed lucky, considering all the businesses and events Downtown; there was a design business grand opening party just across Main Street, and the BeerFest at the Arts Factory, all in recent days. Let's hope damage was limited to storefronts.
There is no place in Downtown Las Vegas called the Icebar. You must be thinking of another city.
Ice Lounge?
Nope. You are 0-2.
Downtown haters like denver21 clearly never step foot in downtown LV - he/she doesn't even know what businesses exist. Lame.
I do know that this bar closed because it was not safe. Oh, and I worked downtown for 11 years thank you, I know what exists down there.
Icehouse!!
The tavern to which you refer did not close "because it was not safe." There are many, many reasons why it closed, but your claim isn't among them.
You may (or may not) have worked "downtown" for eleven years, but your knowledge of the area is limited.
Wow! You would think it would have made
national news. I wonder if it was a Decepticon or
an Autobot?
I live near Bonanza and LVBlvd, and i felt the explosion. It shook my house! I knew something exploded. It wasn't an illegal firework set off by illegal aliens!
Transformers.. More than meets the Eye...
"I do know that this bar closed because it was not safe. Oh, and I worked downtown for 11 years thank you, I know what exists down there".....uh thanks denver21 but clearly you don't know what's "really" down there. and if you work downtown and hate the area so much....get another job but please don't wait for the area to just blow up. we happen to like our arts district and support our shop owners and galleries no matter how big or small. i feel for the people who were left to clean up this damage and am grateful that there wasn't more.
Arts District? I thought it was further south down Main Street where the actual Art Galleries are? Since when does a collection of Thrift Stores, Bail Bondsmen, Garages, and Adult Book Shops constitute an "Arts District"?
Downtown lovers can wax myopic about the merits of their poor investment all day long. The fact is, it's a dump and covering your eyes from the bums, worn out hookers, the joke that is the Holsum lofts, and bail bonds after bail bonds, does not your minimalist, liberal, latte, fantasy a reality make. No amount of cancer research and carts selling stolen sunglasses and perfumes will ever make downtown compare to a real success like Town Square. That taste in your mouth downtowners is called Glitter Gulch!
Is this area on fire again? Was driving on the 95 and saw what appeared to be smoke coming from there and Twitter seems to corroborate it.
denver21-- its a good thing that you were not strapped to that transformer and asked the name of that bar before being released.. You would be working at OV,, then again you might already.... Its all good that no one was seriously hurt...Then again if it was someplace like Townsquare ,,you would hear those snobby sniveling tards whinning about who is gonna clean this mess up...It would be an outrage ....lol
I don't know what had happened here. The good think about Las Vegas is that it's city infrastructure is in relatively outstanding condition compared to other American cities that are older and decrepit. The fact that this happened early morning is even more puzzling. It's around noon time when the city is consuming the most amount of electricity from the power grid. In theory if there were a buildup of natural gas next to the transformer and the transformer was "arching" at the time - this could indeed cause an explosion.
"Test12": Town Square is fine. I visit it once or twice a month. But it is headed into receivership. The mortgagee hasn't made payments on the development in months. In the past three weeks, both Bar Louie and the 40,000 sq ft Eleven Spa disappeared overnight. Meanwhile, three new bars are scheduled to open on East Fremont and the Arts District in the next 2-3 months. Honest perspective is more useful than anonymous negative spin.
Yeah, Town Square is great; everything a city is supposed to look like on TV, down to the privately run parking meters.
Of course there are bums and hookers down town, that's real life - but if you prefer soulless, mega-consumer corporate, homogeneity then by all means stay in Summerlin maybe they'll build you another Olive Garden or PT's.
Reza, tell us all about the Glitter Gulch.
Tell us about the smell of piss.
Serenade us with an enumeration of the pillars of business perfection unfolding "downtown."
Would one of the opening bars be at the El Cortez?
Do the financials on Town Square look as good as those of Neonopolis? What is Fitzgeralds like today, or that monolith of industrial inspiration, the Lady Luck? A few washed up test site protesters in BMW's throwing paint on a sheet does not turn "Downtown" into "an Arts District" any more than a liquor store that sells malt liquor and Shwisher Sweets is a soon to be opening "bar."
Lessee - Town Square is bust and Summerlin has armed men running around forcing Metro to shoot them, but downtown is too seedy and gritty? At least the Arts District is interesting and a little historic; Town Square and Summerlin were blown out of a stucco gun a little while ago.
I hope there are no more explosions downtown and whatever it was gets taken care of.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Cut Denver21 a little slack and denver21 always remember; there is no one on earth that knows everything about their town, regardless of how long they've been living and working there. I've been here 14 years and keep finding new stuff every day, but that's what I love about Vegas!!!
My thoughts go out to all the people, shops, and Las Vegas downtown enthusiasts. I just had a lovely Wedding this July 2nd at First Friday, and was involved with a show at Place Gallery the same night. Both of them were beautiful events.
Rebuilding downtown areas AND building environments for people to meet and for commerce are both very important parts of a city's natural progression.
My thoughts are that both aspects are very integral to the culture of the city. I would like to see more of a collaborative community that had a well developed plan for gentrification and phased approach to dealing with it.
Two more years of my Master's program in landscape architecture, and I can not wait to be involved in helping build and rebuild more harmonious arts districts that are not only cultural viable, but sustainable in both infrastructure and economy.
"Lessee - Town Square is bust and Summerlin has armed men running around forcing Metro to shoot them, but downtown is too seedy and gritty? At least the Arts District is interesting and a little historic; Town Square and Summerlin were blown out of a stucco gun a little while ago."
Best post of the day. Thank you.
Signed, a downtown homeowner who would rather live alongside a little grit and a lot of living history than stucco superficiality, gated homogeneity, and suburban anomie any day of the week.
@wtk2
I really feel like I should have had "Best Post of the Day". Mine was much more sarcastic, maybe you'll reconsider?
Do I get points for disliking the downtown "Arts" District and Town Square equally?
@ThisOneGuy
Sorry for overlooking your well placed wit and sarcasm. Please accept my sincerest apology - and a belated award for "Wittiest Post of the Day." Well done.
Just a thought,the new city hall and bus terminal are both right there.The CITY has never had a problem getting rid of the undesireables before so why stop now.Just my thoughts which are usually right...........
Test12: Your concept of "Downtown" is incredibly limited for harboring such negativity toward it. Most of the conditions you describe, you yourself assign to the limited area under the Fremont Street Experience. As a native Las Vegan, I am not a fan of the Experience and never have been. I won't even argue the points except to say that I've been to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and it's not much different, and yet it somehow is that city's most well-known attraction.
As for your other comments, I'll say this: in addition to the Downtown Cocktail Room (owned by a local, former Strip nightlife manager), the Griffin (owned by a Los Angeles operator), the Beauty Bar and Don't Tell Mama's:
1) The Vanguard is under construction on East Fremont. It will be an upscale lounge owned by a husband-wife team that came from a hotel-casino property, in the vein of Hotel Costes lobby bars.
2) an authentic hookah is under construction on East Fremont; it is owned by the husband-wife team who operate House of Kabob across the street.
3) Nacho Daddy's -- a bar and restaurant -- is in the permitting stage in the previous 7/11 space (which was once a nightclub owned partially by Frank Sinatra) on East Fremont. This project comes from the people who brought us Zappos (yes, that Zappos).
4) a Thai restaurant is in the permitting stage on East Fremont.
5) The Beat cafe opened at Emergency Arts, with a menu overseen by a chef formerly of a well-known high end restaurant n the Strip.
6) a bar and an urban grocer are under permit for the Soho Lofts tower in The Arts District.
7) Inhabit LV, an interior design firm, just took up residency on Main Street in the Arts District, just down from Facilitec, another design firm that fully renovated a building.
8) To add to the other artists and venues in the area, both upstart and established, Brett Sperry (of Westwood Studios) built the area's first freestanding gallery, from scratch: Brett Wesely Contemporary. It houses works of internationally known artists never before shown in Las Vegas, as well as works by local and global upstarts (some too young to remember the Test Site protests).
These aren't "hippy dippy dreams," they are real businesses that require real business sense and cash to operate.
I have nothing against Town Square; I go there on purpose a couple times a month. But it is a mall, a controlled private space, not an urban city environment, and that makes it impossible to compare to Downtown. Of course a mall feels different than a city street. And yet, one day I walked in the Men's Room at a store at Town Square (no need to say which one) and was met by the sight of a homeless man, naked from the waist down, taking a sponge bath in the sink.
Downtown isn't for everyone, but neither is the illusion of perfection sold by the suburbs. The reality of city living reaches into every corner of the valley these days.
anyone else wanna say these people are overpaid?
oh and townsquare sucks. looks like some corporate yuppie scumbags rendition on what a small village would be full of overpriced food, clothing, and 4 dollar bottles of water.
@ Journey - hope this helps.
Arts District - Las Vegas
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ta...
Town Square - Las Vegas
www.townsquarelasvegas.com/
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ta...
James_P....thanks for the updates. However, it seems that a lot of these projects are "under construction" or "in the permitting stage". Nothing wrong with that, but I'm afraid we've heard that all before. Unfortunately, it seems these little ventures pop up and ultimately fail.
I'm sincerely hoping these do not. I'm all for the downtown "revitalization". I don't want to be skeptical, but it seems one has too in order to not be disappointed.
What happened to the Art Bar?
Thanks for your interest in my comments, Brent.
The Art Bar situation was a matter of public record; the leasing operator (rightfully) lost their gaming license for failure to pay gaming taxes. There's more to the story, but that sums it up.
As for the Downtown businesses in permitting phase, as a longtime Downtown observer, I agree wholeheartedly with you. Keep in mind that I did mention several businesses that had already opened, and some that were already under construction (Vanguard Lounge and the hookah bar) - not just in the permitting phase.
I guess the most important point is that in this economic period, businesses is ALL areas of Las Vegas are struggling. Businesses can fail at any point in their existence - case in point the two businesses that vanished overnight from Town Square. Downtown is no better or worse off in that regard, it is just a different spot.
-JPR
Attention pasty cowards: please stay in your cookie-cutter, gated communities, no one wants you suburbanites and your terrible Mc-restaurants around anyway.
You may return to your mindless consumption; That will be all.
Oh, I always wanted a second trip to the Art Bar. Now I'll never get the chance.
Downtown is a dump and the few cheerleaders here telling us all about a few boutique bars and some galleries does not sustain their argument for downtown being "nice". There are a few nice corners somewhere in the El Cortez and maybe a few at Atomic Liquor. Isn't there a gallery at The Western? What was the name of that fine Italian restaurant near Charleston in that art place? Did they get the pest control company to take down those giant black roaches? Or are those now considered art? I wish you myopic downtowner's all the best. Just don't pitch a fit when the rest of us point and laugh and take great schadenfreude when we catch you trying to sell it. Let's hear it for the first boutique, art gallery/intellectual/coffee house/misunderstood/bail bonds. I can see the sign now in artistic neon, Gallery Bail Bond's Coffee House.
Test12 is clearly not "into" Downtown, but the poster's knowledge of it is years -- and I do mean years -- out of date. The "pest control" company mentioned in the post directly above has been gone from that building for about four years. Not sure what the point is, but it clearly isn't to elevate the discussion.
James, I think the point of the pest control company being out of business for 4 years is test12's point...
No disrespect James, because I am a BIIIIIG fan of the Arts district, but I'm tired of the roaches painted on the building too. It is just NOT attractive and defers from what the Arts district has to offer.
No offense taken.
For what it's worth, the "roaches" on the pest control building have been gone since the pest control business moved. They were considered by some to be a "neat" part of Vegas sign history (sure, that's debatable), but they have been off the building for years.
Reza, you are clearly Oscar Goodman's pen name. I officially declare a patent on my Gallery Coffee House Artistic Bail Bond's. I will have the Bonds framed in Giant frames and with about 20' between them. Track lighting will illuminate them and I will declare them art. Then I will sip latte and wear small frame Gucci glasses even though I don't wear glasses. It's an artist thing...Now I need help with my jailhouse advertising. Thiefs, thugs, convicts, hoodlums, and criminals: Unite in the Art's District at Gallery Coffee House Artistic Bail Bond's. Dog the bounty hunter, please consider an exhibition of your art at our Gallery.
Lazy and lame comment.
Well, now I have to ask test12...What's the point of your post?
And James, the bugs are gone?? You know I'm so used to seeing them, I hadn't even noticed!!
My point, and to much satisfaction, is to highlight the fallacy that Downtown is anything but a hodge podge of jail industries, gritty adult bookstores, weekly apartments, and worn out slot rooms. Few things about las vegas inspire more comic impulses for me than the suggestion that Juhl, Newport Lofts and the artists inspired by them, are the new downtown. Thank you for so much fun.
Well, for now, you are absolutely correct, but change is what makes the world go round. Let's just wait and see...