By Annie Vong, Tony Garcia, Noble Brigham
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — Two adults and two children were found dead in a home that caught fire hours earlier in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, officials announced Thursday evening.
Crews were called just before 4:10 a.m. to a fire at 8332 Langhorne Creek Street, near the area of West Windmill Lane and South Jones Boulevard, according to Clark County Fire Chief John Steinbeck.
A mother and child who jumped from a third-story window were treated for injuries and taken to University Medical Center. Their conditions were stabilized.
Neighbors report explosion
Neighbors reported hearing an explosion during the fire, and that the investigation was still determining whether there was an explosion in the house, Steinbeck said.
The fire chief said he expected crews to be on the scene for at least 24 hours and that the cause of the blaze remained under investigation.
“This is still a very active scene with crews on site,” Clark County spokesperson Stephanie Wheatley said in a Thursday evening statement announcing the deaths. “The cause of the fire is still under investigation.”
The identities of the four people found dead hadn’t yet been released. Wheatley said that once those identities are confirmed, they would be released publicly by the Clark County coroner’s office.
Earlier in the day, Steinbeck said in a press conference that the fire grew to the point in which it would’ve spared nobody who remained inside the house. At the time, and until the four bodies were found, officials had been saying there were four suspected occupants who were unaccounted for.
“We do know that if anybody was inside at this point in time that they did not survive,” Steinbeck said Thursday morning. “There’s no survivability in that structure right now.”
The first units arrived to find “extremely heavy fire blasting out of every window” on the second and third floors, the fire chief said. Crews tried to get to the second floor through the front door but were pushed out from the heat.
They determined they could search the first floor by cutting through the garage door, and they conducted a quick search on the bottom level of the home. But firefighters had to evacuate when the second floor started to collapse onto them.
“The floors are completely burned through,” Steinbeck said.
The roof, third floor and second floor all collapsed into a debris field in the garage.
Homes in the neighborhood were equipped with smoke alarms, but Steinbeck said he could not confirm whether the alarms in the house that caught fire had been activated.
Firefighters initially prioritized protecting nearby threatened homes, according to a news release. A second alarm response was called just before 4:20 a.m.
The fire had damaged the immediate nearby homes, even breaking the window of one nearby home, Steinbeck said Thursday morning.
“It did break out the windows of one home next to it, but the crews were able to keep it from extending severe damage to either of the structures on either side,” Steinbeck said.
People in neighboring homes were evacuated and did not return while the investigation continued.
Steinbeck stressed for the public to practice evacuation routes, especially with children, in preparation for emergencies.
Along with county firefighters, emergency crews from Las Vegas , Henderson and Nevada Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team, responded to the blaze, Steinbeck said.
‘It’s a tragedy’
Neighbors told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the fire was dramatic, with heavy smoke and large flames.
“It was really scary,” said Rayna Kay, who lives behind the home that burned.
Around 4 a.m., Kay heard the sound of screaming, which she initially thought might be a domestic dispute. She said she also heard “loud popping” that sounded like gunshots. A woman whom Kay thought had jumped or run out of the house was knocking on doors trying to get help, she said.
“They couldn’t get the fire to stop,” she said. “It just kept going. It was raging.”
She said she didn’t know the family that lived in the house, but would see them and thought they looked like nice people.
Jessie Tiseo said she heard sirens and was curious about what was going on. She went to investigate.
“It was just huge,” she said. “There were sparks coming out of the top of it. It was a fire that looked like something you see in a movie.”
Daniel Ceballos said the flames of the fire went about a story above the house.
“It’s a tragedy,” he said.
Nick Lewis said the fire filled his street with smoke. “It looked bad,” he said.
Chris Zabriskie, who lives near the house that burned, said he woke up around 4 or 4:30 a.m. to let his dog out and noticed the reflection of lights in his window. Then, around 6 or 6:30 a.m., he said, he opened his door and was greeted by smoke so strong he had to go back inside.
“I’m shocked,” he said.
‘So horrible’
Around 7:30 p.m. police presence began to diminish, and people gathered in the damp and soot-stained streets to mourn their neighbors.
Louiza Nacer, who lives across the street, said an African couple lived at the home with their three children and another relative. She described them as family-oriented and heavily involved at a nearby church.
“I am also African, so when other family arrived, I was the only person who could comfort them,” Nacer said, tearing up. “It was so horrible.”
Another neighbor, Linda Lawn, said the family recently celebrated a birthday of one of the daughters. Lawn said the girl was one of the two children found dead after the fire.
“It really just hurts your heart,” said Lawn.
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