Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze at Alex Rivas Upholstery on South Main Street. Fire officials said the fire started Wednesday afternoon in a stack of furniture and upholstery products behind the store.
Published Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | 3:05 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | 6:09 p.m.
Business fire
Fire officials said a blaze that appears to have started outside Wednesday afternoon gutted a business south of downtown Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Fire and Rescue responded at 2:35 p.m. to the fire at Alex Rivas Upholstery, 1218 S. Main St. That location is south of Charleston Boulevard's intersection with Main Street.
Fire department spokesman Tim Szymanski said business owners across the street noticed a fire behind Alex Rivas Upholstery and notified the store's owners.
The owners and others working along South Main Street tried to put out the fire, which had consumed a 4-foot stack of furniture and upholstery products, with a garden hose and fire extinguishers, Szymanski said.
"It kept getting bigger really fast, so they decided to retreat," he said.
The store was engulfed in flames by the time the fire department arrived, Syzmanski said.
Fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze, but authorities are still looking for one of three dogs that was inside the business at the time of the fire.
Szymanski said fire officials consider that stretch of South Main Street a "high fuel load" because of the amount of wood, rubber, glue and other flammable products at the businesses, so their first priority was to stop the fire from spreading.
"It's going to take a lot to pull out of that store and make sure the fire is out," he said.
Fire officials said they don't know the cause of the fire but said it appears to have started in the stack of furniture and upholstery products outside behind the store.
Szymanski said the hot weather and dry conditions increase the risk of outdoor fires.
"If we get any outside fires, it's going to spread really fast," he said, adding that people can prevent fires by monitoring barbecues and not throwing cigarette butts out car windows.
Marc Comstock, owner of Retro Vegas across the street, said he saw smoke coming from behind the building and notified workers at Venture Furniture, which is two stores away from Alex Rivas Upholstery.
"It was unbelievable when the front end blew," he said, referring to a fire ball that erupted in the front of the store as emergency crews arrived.
Fire officials said they think the blaze was contained to Alex Rivas Upholstery, but they were going to inspect neighboring businesses for damage.
The blaze occurred a few blocks south of the Opportunity Village Thrift Store, which caught fire Sunday evening at 921 S. Main St. Earlier that morning, a transformer explosion rocked the same area, blowing out the windows of the thrift store and nearby business.
Investigators have said there is no evidence that Sunday's incidents are related.
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