Six killed, 13 injured in fire at Las Vegas apartment

Las Vegas, December 22

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A fire in a three-story apartment building in downtown Las Vegas, where residents were apparently using their stoves for heat, killed six persons and injured 13. The fire forced some residents to jump from upper-floor windows to escape the heavy smoke before dawn Saturday, authorities said.

Investigators reported that the fire started around a first-floor unit’s stove and that residents had told them that there was no heat in the building, which sits a few blocks from downtown Las Vegas’ touristy Fremont Street District. Residents reported awakening to pounding on doors around 4 am.

By the time Matthew Sykes got his clothes on to flee, one end of his second-floor hallway was choked with thick black smoke, as was a stairwell, making it impassable for he and his wife.

“The whole place was like one big black cloud of smoke — couldn’t get down the stairs,” said Sykes. Firefighters arriving at the scene began treating injured and using ladders to rescue numerous people already jumping or hanging from windows, fire department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. “The first thing that you think of is: We’ve got to rescue those people. A fall of 16 feet (4.9 meters) or higher can be fatal,” he said. — AP