Coroner IDs teen killed in Thursday house fire

By Jackie Valley

Published Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 | 11:19 a.m.

Updated Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 | 12:09 p.m.

The teenage boy killed with his father in an explosion Thursday evening at the family’s Las Vegas home has been identified as 13-year-old Mirion Kentrell Jackson.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified the boy, but it has not released an official cause of death or the identity of his father.

Jackson was an eighth-grader at Swainston Middle School in North Las Vegas, school officials said.

The deadly explosion happened about 6:30 p.m. Thursday at 850 Bartlett Ave., near Carey Avenue and Revere Street.

Witnesses told Las Vegas Fire & Rescue investigators they saw Jackson’s father working on a boat prior to the explosion.

The father apparently caught fire during the explosion and sprinted inside the house, while his wife fetched a garden hose to extinguish the fire, department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

Meanwhile, Jackson ran to his bedroom to call 911, Szymanski said. That’s when a second explosion happened, producing a thick column of black smoke and flames fueled by gasoline.

Firefighters arrived to find a 20-foot wall of fire engulfing the home, Szymanski said.

Jackson was trapped in his bedroom, pounding on his window for help, officials said. A North Las Vegas Police officer and a Metro Police officer, who were patrolling nearby and noticed the fire, attempted to rescue the teen.

The pair jumped a back wall to the teen’s window and worked to break the security bars that covered it, but they were unable to gain access, Szymanski said.

Firefighters later retrieved Jackson, unconscious from the smoke, and attempted to revive him. But it was too late. He was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

Three minutes later, firefighters found Jackson’s father dead near the front of the home, Szymanski said. The mother was escorted to safety.

It took firefighters 15 minutes to contain the flames, officials said. The two police officers were taken to University Medical Center for smoke inhalation.

Jackson’s mother also was taken to the hospital for emotional distress.