Investigators checking if burn victim is linked to Las Vegas fire

Arson investigators are investigating whether a man who walked into a Henderson hospital early Friday with serious burns was injured in a fire near downtown Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Fire Department crews responded to a fire in a shed about 3:45 a.m. behind a home at 1501 S. 5th Place, near Las Vegas Boulevard South and Charleston Boulevard. No victims were found when firefighters arrived and extinguished the blaze.

But the department later learned that a man had walked into St. Rose Dominican Hospital, de Lima campus and told the staff that he had been burned in a shed fire. The hospital is more than 14 miles from the scene of the Las Vegas fire.

The man suffered serious burns, the department said, and was being transferred to University Medical Center’s burn unit.

A firefighter also was taken to the hospital for an ankle injury, the department said.

The cause of the fire, which did not spread to the house, was still under investigation Friday morning.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.