Fire crews respond to same Amargosa residence within hours

A structure fire on Friday left a family in Amargosa Valley looking for another a place to live just days before Christmas.

Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Lewis said crews were dispatched for a mutual aid response to a home at 50 South Desert Holly just after 7:30 a.m.

Upon arrival, Pahrump crews led by Lt. Steve Moody, found several members of Amargosa's all-volunteer fire department on the home's roof attempting to extinguish the flames.

Though no injuries were reported, the initial investigation determined the cause of the fire was electrical.

Lewis credited a family member for calling the fire department.

"We found heavy smoke showing from the area of the roof," Lewis said. "Our crews sized up the scene to get a risk assessment and determined that an interior attack was prudent because the interior space was tenable. We mounted the interior attack with our attack lines, hooked the ceilings and exposed the hidden fire and knocked down the fire in short order."

Lewis noted the Amargosa fire crew was advised by Pahrump responders to get off the roof immediately.

"About five minutes after they got off the roof, the roof caved in," Lewis said. "There was a lot of smoke in the upper layer of the home. Once they got all that exposed they could extinguish it pretty easily."

After the fire was extinguished, Pahrump fire crews turned over command of the fire grounds to fire crews from Nye County Station 51.

Roughly 12 hours later, Lewis said Pahrump fire crews were once again summoned to the same residence for another report of a structure fire.

"We responded to the same house in Amargosa Valley for report of another fire," he said. "Crews performed an interior attack, hooked additional ceilings and walls and extinguished a fire in a timely fashion. All mutual aid companies, including the county, worked very well together and brought a successful conclusion to this fire."

Pahrump fire crews remained busy Friday afternoon as they responded to a structure fire along Thousandaire Boulevard.

Lewis noted the design of the home unlike anything he's seen before in Pahrump.

"It was very interesting because we had smoke emanating from the interior walls and the ceiling area," he said. "Our investigation revealed that apparently the dwelling had been a manufactured home that had been encased by a stick-built type structure," he said. "It was multiple structures to create one livable space. The crews could not access the hidden pockets of fire from one area only, as you could in most cases, they actually had to go above the added roof surface and go through those layers in order to get to the fire."

Additionally, Lewis said the initial investigation showed the source of the fire to be electrical.

"They quickly controlled that fire and there was an electrical wire we were able to trace back as the probable ignition source," he said.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com.