Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Girl, 4, hospitalized after being pulled from house fire

Fire

Las Vegas Fire & Rescue

This house on Pebblestone Circle, near Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road, caught fire Friday, July 21, 2017.

Updated Saturday, July 22, 2017 | 2:26 p.m.

A closed door and firefighters pushing through extreme heat and heavy smoke in a west valley house devastated by a fire Friday night are being credited for the rescue of a 4-year-old girl who was found unconscious in a room, according to Las Vegas Fire & Rescue.

The girl, who “appeared she was suffering from smoke and heat inhalation,” was hospitalized at University Medical Center in critical but stable condition, officials said.

Several people began to phone emergency responders at 9:18 p.m. to report a fire on Pebblestone Circle, near Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road.

Arriving crews encountered a garage of a two-story house fully engulfed in flames, and were told that a child, and possibly her father, remained inside the residence, officials said.

Firefighters entered, but were met with heavy flames and smoke, and then “extreme heat and thick black smoke” on the second floor, making the search difficult, officials said.

They found the girl lying on the floor of a room located near the garage, officials said. “Although the entire downstairs sustained extreme heat and flame damage, the room where the little girl was found had minimal damage due to the door to the room being closed, keeping the majority of heat, flames and smoke from entering the room.”

The girl’s father was “extremely distraught” while the flames ravaged through the house, because he’d heard his daughter crying, but could not find her in two attempts in which he entered the house, officials said. Firefighters kept him from going in a third time.

The man later told investigators that he heard a “loud boom” coming from the garage, which caused black smoke to enter through the vents, officials said.

The fire, which caused about $100,000 in damage, is believed to had started in the garage near a work bench, officials said.