LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Nevada Youth Sports is working to keep thousands of young athletes on the field after a fire believed to have been sparked by illegal fireworks caused nearly a quarter of a million dollars in damage to its facility.

The fire broke out late on the night of July 4. Jane Ramos, chief administrative officer for Nevada Youth Sports, said she received a call from the organization’s landlord telling her there had been a fire at the building.

“We got a call from our landlord saying I needed to come out here right away because there had been a fire,” Ramos said. “We didn’t really understand the scope of what had happened until we could hardly open the door because of the fumes, the smoke, and the smell.”

According to Ramos, firefighters responded shortly before midnight after flames were reported on the roof of the building. In the days since, the organization says it has learned the fire is believed to have started when embers from illegal fireworks landed on the roof.

“It’s something that was preventable if it truly was illegal fireworks,” Ramos said.

Early damage assessments estimate nearly $250,000 in structural, electrical and water damage. Ramos said the organization is still working to understand the full financial impact.

“We’re trying to assess where we are financially in all of this,” she said. “It’s really a question mark.”

The damage has forced Nevada Youth Sports to temporarily close its facility, affecting the thousands of athletes and families who rely on the organization for leagues, clinics and training programs.

Nevada Youth Sports serves more than 14,000 athletes and families across the Las Vegas Valley each year. Ramos said the organization’s immediate priority is finding alternate locations so programs can continue with as little disruption as possible.

“We’re definitely allocating our resources toward those efforts,” Ramos said. “Whatever the cost is to continue programming outside of this building, that’s where we’re focusing our efforts right now.”

While investigators continue looking into the cause of the fire, Ramos said the organization hopes whoever is responsible will be held accountable. She said neighboring businesses have provided surveillance video that could help determine exactly what happened.

“I’m hopeful that we can point some accountability somewhere,” Ramos said. “Our commercial neighbors have been very kind to offer their camera footage, so we’re still collecting all of that information before we pursue anything further.”

Despite the damage, Ramos said the organization’s commitment to local families remains unchanged.

“We’ll continue to be steadfast and patient,” she said. “Our mission is being a partner to our athletes and families. We’re here for a bigger purpose than just this building, and we’ll see it through.”

Nevada Youth Sports expects to have a better understanding of the repair timeline by the end of the week. In the meantime, leaders say they’re grateful for the community support they’ve already received as they work to restore operations.

A ‘place where rigorous social research and critical, decolonial scholarship’ will occur

At the beginning of this month, the University of Nevada Reno merged its sociology department and Department of Gender, Race, and Identity to form the Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis — dedicated to studying “social life” via “intersectional, decolonial and humanistic” methods.

According Nevada Today, the consolidation “reflects a long-recognized affinity between the two departments. Sociology and GRI share deep commitments to understanding social inequalities, the forces that produce and reproduce them, and the possibilities for transformation.”

The new department will be led by Professors Lydia Huerta (research interests include “critical communication pedagogy” and “feminist, gender and sexuality studies”) and Jared Bok (“globalization and transnationalism,” “religion, culture, organizations”) whom outgoing Dept. of Sociology Chair Marta Elliot (“prejudice, discrimination, stigma and well-being,” “sociology of mental health and illness”) said will “exceptionally well-position” the merger for the future.

The now-former Departments of Sociology and Gender, Race, and Identity taught students “to ask rigorous questions about race, gender, class, migration, health, labor, culture and power,” and the merger won’t change that, according to the report.

Huerta said the new department “will be a place where rigorous social research and critical, decolonial scholarship inform one another and where students graduate equipped to understand and change the world they inherit.”

The Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis will offer “robust” selection of majors and minors including gender, race and identity, comparative ethnic studies, Indigenous studies, gender and queer studies, and social justice and conflict studies.

College of Liberal Arts Dean Casilde Isabelli said these programs “preserve [both former departments’] unique intellectual traditions while creating new opportunities for collaboration, innovation and student success.”

According to her faculty page, Huerta has written the journal articles “The Exigency of the Anti-Gender Agenda in Latin America: A Transnational Perspective” and “The Impacts of Anti-Genderism on Education in Brazil: Fear and Danger among Professors of Gender” among other publications.

Bok’s offerings include “Religious Exit Costs” and “The Arts in Sacred Spaces: How Religious Conservatism and Cultural Omnivorousness Influence Attitudes about Congregational Involvement in the Arts.”

MORE: U. Nevada Reno language guide warns against using ‘native Nevadan,’ offensive to indigenous people