Fire damages home, kills family pet

A local family’s home was damaged and their pet lost after a fire broke out inside a dwelling last weekend in the area of Wilson and Woodchips roads.

Pahrump Valley Fire Rescue Services responded to a report of a structure fire on Nov. 30.

When crews arrived, Fire Chief Scott Lewis said they could see heavy smoke conditions coming from the roof area of the structure.

After quickly sizing up the scene, firefighters entered the burning structure through a side entrance and began working to get the blaze under control.

Despite concerns over the combination of different building methods the home was comprised of, crews were reportedly able to contain the fire and stop it from extending to other areas of the home.

“They determined it was a combination of different types of construction methods, so in other words the main part, the original part, was actually a trailer, and then they added stick-built additions over a period of 15 to 20 years, so that caused a couple of concerns early on, but the crews did a really good job. They entered through a side door, observed fire conditions and cut that fire off at that point with no extensions,” Lewis said.

Although there were no human injuries to report from the fire, Lewis said firefighters did discover a dog inside the home who had succumbed to smoke inhalation.

“There was a dog that was in a kennel in the middle part of the house that had succumbed to smoke inhalation. The crews found him early on, but the smoke was so great in the inside, there was nothing they could do. They tried and removed him from the home, but there wasn’t anything they could do,” he said.

The fire chief said an investigation of the fire revealed it was accidental and likely related to unattended cooking.