Major fires: 2 valley blazes still under investigation
The causes of two recent major fires in the Las Vegas Valley are still unknown, officials said.
On June 6 an early morning fire ripped through an apartment building at the Tides on Charleston complex, killing one person and displacing about 18 others.
Two weeks later, a massive blaze destroyed an apartment complex under construction in the southwest Las Vegas Valley.
Both fires, which are not related, remain under investigation.
“We are continuing an extensive investigation and do not expect to complete it for several months,” John Steinbeck, Chief of the Clark County County Fire Department, said in an email, referring to the June 20 blaze.
The fire, which engulfed a large building on Maule Avenue, near the 215 Beltway and South Buffalo Drive, burned for four days, Steinbeck said.
Its plume of smoke could be seen all across the valley, flames visible for miles.
The fire kept burning, and Steinbeck said it was officially put out at 5 p.m. Saturday, more than four days since it had started.
The cause of the blaze earlier this month that left one dead at the Tides on Charleston complex, at West Charleston Boulevard and South Torrey Pines Drive, remained under investigation, city of Las Vegas spokesman Jace Radke said in an email.
Records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal from the Las Vegas Fire Department also show that two other major fires at the same complex in the past three years — one in 2020 and one in 2022 — were also found to have had undetermined causes.
Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.
