Fire does $30,000 damage at produce warehouse

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Sunday, March 20, 2011 | 12:41 a.m.

Fire did $30,000 damage Saturday night at a warehouse near Valley View Boulevard and Desert Inn Road, but an automatic sprinkler system stopped the blaze from spreading, fire officials said.

The business was closed at the time and nobody was injured.

The fire was reported about 8:10 p.m. at a produce warehouse in the 3700 block of Capella Ave., Las Vegas Fire and Rescue officials said.

Fire investigators believe an electric fan mounted to the roof started the fire. Most of the heat and flames vented outside, but some heat backed into the warehouse, causing insulation on the ceiling to melt, officials said. That activated the automatic fire sprinkler system that kept the flames from spreading throughout the rest of the warehouse, officials said.

Fire damage was contained to a small area of roof around an fan, but much of the produce was damaged by smoke and water and will have to be destroyed, officials said.