Published Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008 | 9:43 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008 | 3:33 p.m.
A woman who set her bed on fire shortly after midnight Wednesday morning as she called 911 so firefighters could rescue her three children is in the Clark County Detention Center facing charges of first-degree arson and three counts of child endangerment.
Metro Police said 27-year-old Tiara D. McCarver was taken to Desert Springs Hospital in custody and treated for smoke inhalation.
Police are charging her with three counts of child endangerment, but her 5, 7 and 10-year-old children were out of the apartment before flames erupted in McCarver's bedroom, said Scott Allison, spokesman for the Clark County Fire Department.
County fire investigators charged her with first-degree arson because in addition to her children, she endangered seven other apartments in the complex near Tropicana Avenue and Boulder Highway, Allison said.
"She phoned 911 and said, 'I'm going to kill myself. I don't want to live anymore. Come get my children,' that's what she said," Allison said.
The children are in the care of Child Protective Services.
A family living below the McCarver apartment had water damage and the American Red Cross came to assist them.
County firefighters fought thick smoke and intense flames, but confined the fire to the one apartment, Allison said. Firefighters contained and quickly extinguished the blaze, he said.
"An arsonist does not set well with us," Allison said.
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