LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Looking at the building once called the Alpine Motel Apartments near 9th and Ogden in 2022. It looks like any other brick-and-mortar structure under renovation in the City of Las Vegas.
Those passing by may never know what people like Charles Crouch, speaking on Dec. 21, 2019, experienced there as a fire ripped through the building killing six people.
"I'm handing children down, down from the window, to the people, and then, one of the police officers, he came over there and he came up and he began to help me help the people out the window," Couch said.
Dozens of people jumped from the high windows of the three-story building to escape acrid choking smoke emanating from a stove used to heat a cold apartment.
Three years to the day after the fire, some can't let the memories go.
"I was trapped up there on the third floor," Joe Aguilara said.
Aguilara felt compelled to return to the property on the 21st to remember the experience of falling from the third floor and remember the friends he lost to the smoke.
Aguilara remained upset that a back exit door to the complex had been bolted shut for weeks ahead of the fire, which prevented people from escaping.
"At the time, it was considered the worst residential fire in Las Vegas history," he said. "It should have never happened that way. The door in the back should never have been bolted shut."
Several neighbors said maintenance man Don Bennett died from smoke inhalation trying to save lives by breaking open the bolted door.
"Don, he went out as a hero. Trying to bang the door," Aguilara said.
The fire spurred sweeping safety changes in the City of Las Vegas, including regular safety inspections at similar complexes in the area.
Aguilara said he hopes the lessons learned from the blaze will never be forgotten.
"It should be a regular call for the ones going in making sure these buildings are safe for the tenants so this doesn't ever happen again," he said.
