Structure fire shuts down Hwy 160

No injuries were reported following a structure fire along Highway 160 just north of Homestead Road.

Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Lewis said crews were dispatched to the former pet shop, a now vacant building, just after 11 a.m., on Sunday, Nov. 15.

“As I arrived on location, I found moderate smoke showing from the rooftop, on a vacant unsecured structure located on Highway 160,” Lewis said. “Fire quickly broached through the roof surface and out the doors. Because of previous fire events in the same building, crews commenced a defensive exterior attack as we wanted to make certain no one was injured in this fire.”

Lewis also said crews were able to tap into a fire hydrant across the highway, which posed challenges due to the volume of traffic on the highway.

“Law enforcement did a good job securing the roadway,” he said. “The supply line was stretched across the highway, closing the highway down for several hours. The hydrant provided a lot of gallons per minute, so it was very helpful for us to put a large amount of water on this fire in a very short period of time, which allowed us to control it very quickly.”

Additionally, Lewis said there were signs of a collapse on the exterior wall surface of the structure early on.

We had to keep crews back in the initial stages to make sure we were doing everything completely safe,” Lewis said. “It was also closely located to power poles that were also on fire, thus crews from Valley Electric Association responded where they secured the power. The fire was controlled with master streams, while primary and secondary searches were completed from the exterior and there was no one found in the property.”

Lewis also noted that a suspect was located by witnesses who worked closely with the sheriff’s office while crews were suppressing the fire.

“The suspect was identified and sheriff’s office deputies spoke with him and they are following up on that,” Lewis said. “There have been three separate fires at that location within the last year.”

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes