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Man dies from burns suffered while trying to put out his own house fire

Posted at 3:02 PM, May 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-16 02:40:06-04

A man has died of injuries he sustained while trying to put a fire out in the backyard of his home using a garden hose last week.
 
Las Vegas firefighters responded to a reported house fire in the 300 block of South Crestline Drive, between Alta and Torrey Pines Drives at 2:48 p.m. on Friday, May 5.
 
When firefighters arrived they found the backyard behind a one story wood frame house on fire.  There was also a man sitting on the curb in front of the house that appeared to be injured.  When firefighters checked the man, they found he was badly burned on his legs from the knees down and his feet.  He was quickly loaded into a fire rescue unit and transported to the trauma unit at University Medical Center.  He has been in the hospital since the fire and passed this morning.
 
Firefighters found the backyard fully involved with fire including a shed and electrical wires were also down.  Firefighters had the fire under control in less than ten minutes.  The fire was beginning to burn the back of the house, but firefighters were able to prevent the fire from entering the home.
 
The fire gutted the backyard, destroyed a small shed, destroyed a wood fence that separated the backyard from the alley and burned the back of the house.  Damage was estimated at $5000.
 
Fire instigators say a neighbor saw smoke coming from the alley and thought it was burning behind his mother’s home and went to investigate.  He found the fire was actually next door and not at his mother’s home and ran to the front door to warn the occupants.  He banged on the front door and found he woke the man who was taking a nap.  He warned him about the fire and told him he should leave.  But the man went into the back yard and started to fight the fire with a garden hose.  A few minutes later the neighbor said he heard a loud pop from the backyard and then heard the man screaming.  He went back to see what happened and saw the man was burned and helped him to the street.
 
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.  The identity of the man will be released by the Clark County Coroner’s Office after notifications have been made.
 
This is the fourth fire-related death in the city of Las Vegas proper this year.