LATEST: The caregiver that was critically burned in a house fire at 1009 Marion Drive on July 27 has died of her injuries in the Burn Care Unit at University Medical Center. The identity of the woman will be released by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
Neighbors tell 13 Action News that the woman wasn't always able to keep an eye on the men she lived with.
"Her taking care of them, I think she needed more help obviously," said Maria Andiola, a neighbor. "It seemed that way now that she couldn't control all of them."
Andiola says the men would often be found wandering the neighborhood and would need to be led back home.
THIRD UPDATE: A man who lived inside the house where the fire occurred on Wednesday morning has been arrested and charged with arson.
32-year-old Abebaw T. Kassa was booked into the Clark County Detention Center in absentia. He has been charged with first degree arson. He is alleged to have started the fire in the group home while four other people were inside.
Kassa lived in the home with 3 other men and a 60-year-old woman who is the caregiver. During the fire, she sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 75 percent of her body.
Kassa was taken to the hospital for minor smoke inhalation. After treatment, he was arrested.
SECOND UPDATE: Neighbors tell 13 Action News the fire happened at a home for the disabled. They fear the person injured was the kind caretaker living next door.
"I seen this lady running out of the door," said neighbor Maria Andiola. "She was in flames, her hair was burning."
We've learned that an elderly woman took care of four men living in the facility.
"One guy used to live there, he told me it was a halfway house," said neighbor Joyce Wharton. "She was, I guess, the caregiver."
Mojave Mental Health is the provider for the Supported Living Arrangement, according to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. This is a living arrangement that the Division of Public and Behavioral Health does not license; however, DPBH does have the responsibility to monitor the environment.
"It's sad to see that she didn't have somebody to take care of her, to help her out," said Andiola.
Authorities have not released the identity of the woman. It's unclear if she was a patient or caretaker.
The incident is under investigation. At this time, it is not known if the fire was intentionally set.
UPDATE: A teenager says she ran into the burning building Wednesday morning to try to save her neighbors from the flames.
"I could hear the fire detectors and I could smell the smoke," says 17-year-old Sheila Gutierrez.
She says when she didn't see anybody coming out of the house, she ran inside. She says she immediately saw a man standing inside the home next to the door.
"I asked him is there anybody else inside the house, and he said yeah some people are trapped inside the bathroom, somebody was holding the door," says Gutierrez.
Gutierrez says she tried to make her way back further into the home, thinking people were trapped, but the flames got to be too much.
"I saw a lot of flames and smoke coming from the kitchen, I'm assuming, and I just walked out because it was too hot," says Gutierrez.
Gutierrez ran out and called 911.
Fire officials say there were several people inside the home at the time of the fire, and most got out okay, except for one woman who was sent to the hospital in critical condition. Another person was taken to a local hospital for minor smoke inhalation.
Gutierrez got out just in time.
"There was a woman standing in the doorway trying to get out with flames going over her head," says Tim Szymanski with Las Vegas Fire and Rescue.
Police were called out to the scene to investigate for any criminal activity.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- Two people were taken to the hospital after a fast-moving fire in an eastside Las Vegas house early Wednesday morning. A woman was taken to the hospital with life-threatening burns. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Fire dispatchers received several 9-1-1 calls at 5:44 a.m. of a kitchen fire in a house at 1009 Marion Drive.
One of the calls came from the house. Dispatchers could hear smoke alarms activated; they also heard what sounded like a disturbance in progress inside the home also.
Several Las Vegas Metropolitan Police units arrived just as firefighters were arriving also. Heavy flames and smoke were coming out the front window and door of a one-story wood frame house. There also was a woman in the front door with flames over her head.
Firefighters grabbed her and put her in the rescue unit. She was suffering from extensive burns over most of her body. She was immediately transported to University Medical Center which has the only Burn Unit in Las Vegas. Her burns appeared to be life threatening.
Another person escaped through a window on the side of the house where the bedrooms are. One person was taken to the hospital for minor smoke inhalation.
At the time of the fire, it appears there were five occupants in the house.
The fire gutted the kitchen and living room of the house. The attic area over the kitchen and living room sustained heavy damage. There was heat and smoke damage throughout the rest of the house. Damage was estimated at $35,000.
The cause of the fire is under investigation at this time.
