An official takes photos at the Alpine Motel Apartments where a fire killed 6 people last Saturday, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019.
Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019 | 2 a.m.
An urn shaped like a bowling pin sat next to Tracy Ann Cihal’s bed in her modest studio unit at the Alpine Motel Apartments in downtown Las Vegas. The urn, which contained the ashes of her late husband, was undoubtedly her most prized possession.
Cihal and her husband made a pact that if one of them died, the other wouldn’t remarry. But in his final days in a fight with cancer 10 years ago, the man encouraged his bride to find another partner once he passed.
Yet, she didn’t have a desire to be with anyone else and was so determined to keep his memory alive that she created a shrine to his memory in her new apartment, which included his ashes and favorite candy, Mike & Ike’s and Charleston Chew.
The shrine had looked that way for the past decade as she moved multiple times, including in the fall to Alpine, her friend Scotti Hughes said. Cihal, 57, instead focused her attention on caring for others, especially those from a younger generation such as Hughes, whom she affectionately referred to as her children.
Cihal, or as Hughes called her “mama bear,” was one of the six people who died in Saturday’s fire at Alpine. The fire also resulted in 13 injuries and destroyed the nearly 50-year-old building. The dozens who survived, mostly low-income residents, lost their belongings and home.
The Southern Nevada chapter of the American Red Cross said Wednesday it had assisted 56 residents. Las Vegas officials had helped some obtain temporary housing.
Metro Police, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue and code enforcers were probing allegations of neglectful living conditions, such as lack of heating and a faulty fire alarm. There have also been reports about an exit door trapping residents in heavy smoke.
If found, any allegations of criminal wrongdoing would be forwarded to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, said Las Vegas Fire Marshal Robert Nolan.
The fire started in a first-story apartment, near a stove, fire officials said. Due to a lack of central heating, residents reported using stove tops to keep warm, fire department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. Investigators were going to be testing individual air conditioning and heating units installed in each apartment to see if they worked.
It’s considered the deadliest fire in Las Vegas history.
“You cannot imagine how unbearable conditions are inside of a building when it catches fire,” Szymanski said on the day of the fire.
Tracy Ann Cihal
Cihal, who lived toward the middle of the first floor of the three-story, 41-unit building, died in the hallway, toward the backdoor exit, Hughes said.
Fire survivor Brian Johnson said the door was locked and couldn’t be opened, even though “a maintenance guy was trying like crazy” to get it open.
Cihal, who relied on a walker to get around, usually exited through the back of the building where it was easier to walk up a couple of steps rather than walk down them when exiting in the front, Hughes said. Cihal’s walker was found near her body, Hughes said.
A charred, smaller walker belonging to another resident was spotted in front of the building on Christmas Day as masked investigators made their way inside. They’ve been investigating all week.
“Damn, you could still smell smoke,” said Hughes, looking through yellow police tape into the blackened hallway four days after the fire.
Neglectful living conditions
Hughes, who visited Cihal at least once a week at the $700-a-month apartment, said most of the residents on the first floor were disabled. Firefighters arrived to find people jumping from windows from the upper floors, a dramatic scene captured on video shared with local TV news stations.
Three victims died inside the complex, one was found on a sidewalk and a fifth died at University Medical Center. It wasn’t clear where the sixth passed away.
Residents reported being alerted to the flames through knocks on their doors and that the fire alarm hadn’t sounded when it was pulled. Szymanski said firefighters only reported hearing smoke detectors.
Though there was a history of code violations at the building, which was built in 1971, all the infractions were addressed and the cases were closed before the fatal blaze, officials said this week. The property is owned by Las Vegas Dragon Hotel, a domestic limited-liability company registered to Adolfo Orozco, according to Clark County property and Nevada business records.
It’s not unusual for older buildings to tally violations, Nolan said.
Malinda Mier, who says she’s the building’s co-owner, told KTNV-13 that she wasn’t aware of any issues with the heating and that the building was up to code.
But Hughes said Cihal had issues with flooding and a smoke alarm that wouldn’t sound, even when she once saw cooking smoke billow through the small apartment. Hughes said her friend reported the issues to the property’s management, but her fix requests went unfulfilled. Cihal also didn’t have heat in her apartment and used a portable space heater, Hughes said.
Conditions in her apartment grew bad enough that earlier this month, Hughes said, Cihal went to a legal aid center to obtain forms to withhold her rent until her issues were addressed. Hughes said Cihal had planned on handing them over to management the day of her death.
Her friend probably stayed in the downtown area, paying the steep rent when she could have found a better home for the same price elsewhere, because she cherished the community, Hughes said. And it cherished her.
One time, when delivering a large cupcake to one of her friends, whom she referred to as a son, Cihal dressed up like the pastry, Hughes said. The friend was so moved he broke down in tears, she said.
Cihal didn’t have any known immediate family and Hughes, who said she is trying to organize her funeral services, has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for a memorial.
