LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The American Red Cross of Southern Nevada has cited July as its busiest month in more than a decade; it comes after three people lost their lives in fires in the past week.
“It’s horrific,” Melanie Hanson said as her apartment complex went up in flames. “It gives me chills.”
It’s something people across Southern Nevada have reported seeing a lot of lately, flames and smoke filling the skies, destroying homes and leaving many with nothing.
“Now everything is lost,” Alicia Garcia said of her apartment catching on fire. “Everything.”
The American Red Cross of Southern Nevada reported responding to 47 home fires in July which included massive blazes at four different apartment complexes.
One person also died in an apartment fire near Tropicana Avenue and Jones Boulevard on Wednesday. According to the Clark County Fire Department, that fire was contained to one unit, and no one else in the complex was impacted.
One of the fires left two men dead near Spencer Street and Flamingo Road.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” American Red Cross Community Disaster Program Manager Lowell Smith said.
Smith told 8 News Now the organization has helped 241 people find shelter after fires in the past four weeks.
He said many fires occur in older homes, apartments, and low-income areas. He also cited extreme heat and dry conditions as factors.
However, more than anything Smith called it crucial to understand the severity of these situations.
“It devastates them and they lose everything,” Smith said of people affected. “And all of a sudden their world is just thrown into chaos.”
Many have called that chaos overwhelming as they are forced to move past the trauma of destruction and start over.
“You see things like this and think it’s not going to happen,” Garcia said. “And it does happen.”
Smith said The Red Cross of Southern Nevada desperately needs disaster relief volunteers. If you’d like to help click HERE.
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A Nevada man is believed to have suffered a deadly fall while climbing in Oregon.
He’s been identified as 77-year-old Robert Pickering.
Search and rescue crews say they found his body along Mount Washington, northwest of Bend, according to a social media post from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
A climbing guide reported hearing a rockslide near the summit after Pickering passed his group.
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office was one of several groups that assisted in the search.
RENO, Nev. – A homicide suspect from Montana took their own life on Thursday night after police surrounded their car in northwest Reno, reports KTVN 2 News Nevada.
The incident happened in the area of Sharlands Avenue around 9 p.m., according to a spokesperson for the Reno Police Department.
Officers located the suspect and surrounded their car, blocking them in. They then heard a single gunshot and backed away.
Reinforcements were called, and a drone was brought in by UNRPD. It was then confirmed the suspect was in their car, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the news agency reports.
The suspect has not been identified pending the notification of next of kin, and no additional information has been released at this time.
In addition to the Reno Police Department, the Regional Narcotics Unit and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
The investigation is ongoing.
MESQUITE (KTNV) — A deadly crash on Interstate 15 near Mesquite prompted a group of bystanders to spring into action before first responders could arrive, pulling a man from a burning motor home after a collision with a semi-truck.
Steven Grossman, a retired Army National Guard veteran, said he was driving northbound on I-15 after a Fourth of July camping trip with his family when he saw a motor home cross the center median from the southbound lanes.
“It was like a pile of dust, it was going across the center medium and down that big hill,” Grossman said.
WATCH | Nevada bystanders pull crash victim from burning motorhome on I-15 near Mesquite
Nevada bystanders pull crash victim from burning motorhome on I-15 near Mesquite
Nevada State Police Highway Patrol said the motor home had a blown tire. When it crossed the median, it crashed into a semi-truck and burst into flames.
Grossman said he immediately pulled over and ran toward the fire.
“I seen it on fire and, you know, we just, I just got out of the truck and just ran over there,” Grossman said.
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Several other drivers also pulled over. Together, they worked to pull the motor home’s driver to safety.
“Let’s grab him and get him out of here. So we just grabbed him and just tugged him into the gutter right there, into the center medium,” Grossman said.
A propane tank exploded shortly after.
Grossman used his military medical training to keep the man still, while another bystander helped stabilize the victim’s neck until paramedics arrived.
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The driver of the motor home, 62-year-old Gregory Louis Painter, later died at the hospital. Fire officials said 3 other people were taken to the hospital for injuries sustained in the crash.
Grossman said he does not consider himself a hero and that stopping to help was simply the right thing to do.
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“We were just the first ones there that if the next people that were the first ones there would have done the same thing,” Grossman said. “Same thing with behind them if it was 10 cars behind me, the cars behind them would have taken care of it. It’s just I think it’s just our human nature. People just want to help.”
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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