One dead after house catches fire and collapses in southwest Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Firefighters have located the four missing people after a house fire Thursday morning in southwest Las Vegas.

At approximately 4:15 a.m., Clark County firefighters arrived on Langhorne Creek Street and discovered a three-story home with fire coming from second- and third-story windows.

According to CCFD, the first crew on scene attempted to enter the second floor through the front door but were forced out by the heat. Two crews managed to get in through a first floor garage door and attempted a search, but were forced to leave when the house began to collapse on top of them.

Fire officials say the roof, third floor and second floor all collapsed into the garage.

At 4:18 a.m. a second alarm was raised and additional assistance was requested. Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, Henderson Fire Department and Nevada Task Force 1 were all on scene.

Firefighters then began containing the fire to prevent it from spreading to other surrounding homes. At 4:22 a.m., emergency services extinguished the fire in front of the house and tried again to search the collapsed building.

Two residents of the home were treated and taken to UMC Trauma after jumping from a third-story window.

Clark County Fire Chief John Steinbeck initially reported at a news conference that four other residents were missing. But at 6:03 p.m., emergency services found the bodies of two adults and two children.

The Clark County coroner has not yet identified the bodies.

According to Steinbeck, both houses on either side of the fire are still habitable but will remain evacuated until the investigation is complete. He added that emergency services managed to prevent the fire from damaging nearby houses.

“The houses are close together, the radiant heat was strong, the windows of a neighboring house were broken, but emergency services were able to prevent the damage from spreading to the houses on both sides,” he said.

FOX5's Molly McBride was on the scene and spoke with neighbors who said they couldn't imagine the tragedy for the family.

“As a father, it feels like you don't want to be that father…You never want to think about what they're going through,” said neighbor Daniel Ceballos. “Personally, I’m just grateful that my kids woke up next to me and are now in school.”

Another neighbor, Chris Zabriskie, said: “It's scary because all these houses are so close to each other. It’s amazing that this house was the only one that caught fire, the others could have caught fire in an instant.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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