A two-alarm apartment fire late Saturday night has been ruled accidental by Las Vegas fire investigators. Five people are displaced because of the fire. One of the occupants was taken to University Medical Center for minor smoke inhalation.
Fire dispatchers were notified at 11:03 p.m. that an apartment at the Sunset Apartments, 1701 N. Rancho Dr. was on fire. When firefighters arrived, they found fire in a downstairs apartment in the two-story wood frame/stucco apartment building with 12 units. Fire was blowing out one of the windows of the unit and flames broke through the window of the unit upstairs.
A second alarm was dispatched. Firefighters had the fire out in a few minutes. The fire gutted one bedroom of the downstairs unit; there was smoke and heat damage throughout the rest of the apartment. The upstairs unit had minor heat and smoke damage. Damage was estimated at $50,000.
Fire investigators ruled the fire accidental. The only occupant of the downstairs unit told investigators she moved into the apartment today and was asleep in bed. She woke because the mattress was on fire. She tried to put the fire out, but it continued to grow, so she evacuated the apartment. Fire investigators could not determine the exact cause of the fire, but feel it was accidental in nature.
All of the displaced people told firefighters they would be staying with relatives and did not need assistance from the American Red Cross.
One of the occupants of the upstairs apartment had difficulty breathing and was taken to UMC by fire department ambulance suffering from minor smoke inhalation.
