Las Vegas family changes forever after boat repair disaster

It was time for dinner, but Henry Jackson was still working.

He sent his wife back inside with his plate of food and continued to fiddle with the fuel system on a boat parked in the small driveway of his single-story west Las Vegas home Thursday.

A few minutes later, about 6:30 p.m., the boat exploded. Jackson, 50, was engulfed in flames.

"He ran to the door and said, 'Help me, Cheryl. I'm burning,' " said cousin Billy Alston Sr., 46.

Jackson's wife tried to douse him with a hose, but it apparently wasn't connected to the house. Panic set in.

"There was nothing she could do," Alston said.

Panic also consumed the couple's 13-year-old son, Mirion Jackson. Instead of rushing outside to escape the flames, the eighth-grader stayed inside and attempted to call 911, Alston said.

Cheryl Jackson later told firefighters she thought her son was right behind her as she fled.

The flames immediately spread inside the home, which was just a few short feet from the garage. Mirion, who attended Swainston Middle School, was trapped inside. Witnesses told firefighters the explosion created a "wall of fire."

Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said the home, at 850 W. Bartlett Ave., near Revere Street and Lake Mead Boulevard, was secured with bars on windows and doors.

The fire was too intense at the front of the home and too heavily secured at the back, he said.

"We often tell people, when you make it impossible for people to get in your home, you make it impossible to get out in the case of a fire," Szymanski said.

Szymanski said Las Vegas and North Las Vegas police officers were nearby on routine patrol when the explosion occurred. The officers were unable to enter the home, and by the time firefighters arrived, it was too late to save Mirion, who was found inside.

The teen died at University Medical Center.

Henry Jackson was found dead in the front yard of the home near the charred remains of the boat.

Cheryl Jackson was hospitalized with burns on her forehead, but Alston said she was expected to recover.

A Las Vegas police officer and a North Las Vegas officer were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Alston said he and Jackson grew up together in Las Vegas. The family was extremely close, he said.

"Our families talked almost every day," he said.

Jackson worked for the city of Las Vegas for more than 30 years, Alston said. He recently worked as a street sweeper.

Cheryl Jackson was an employee at her son's middle school, he said. The couple had two other sons, both of whom are in their late teens or early 20s, Alston said.

On Bartlett Avenue on Friday, dozens of neighbors huddled outside the home. Passers-by slowed to stare at the blackened wreckage.

"He was just a real good guy," friend Peter Dixon said. "He was extremely down to earth and very giving. A charitable, churchgoing man."

Dixon said neighbors felt terrible for Cheryl Jackson and her two remaining sons.

"We just never know when our time is," he said.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.