‘It’s tragic’: 2 men who died in Las Vegas apartment fire remembered
More than 100 people stood in near silence Wednesday evening outside a boarded-up apartment building in central Las Vegas for a vigil to memorialize two young men who tragically died in fire there Sunday.
People laid floral bouquets and framed photos of the men, Kameron Moore, 24, and Vincent Herrera, 23, against the trunk of a tall pine tree on a lawn lined by Cyclone fences to block access to the charred building 22, where they lived, of the Riverbend Village Apartments at 3937 Spencer St. north of East Flamingo Road.
A woman carried over an open box full of flameless candles for the gathering as some people embraced, cried and held each other as dusk approached in the shadow of the building with its burned-out skeletal front, its roof twisted and partially collapsed.
“He was very artistic, very creative, stylish,” Mike Quezada, 20, said through tears prior to the vigil while describing Herrera, with whom he worked for two years at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Henderson. “He was really good at drawing.”
“He was very music-related,” said Tobias Hester, 19, another colleague at the bookstore, where Herrera was a book floor worker. “He loved anything that inspired him with music. He was a very creative person with artwork as well.”
Four hospitalized, 30 displaced
A report of the fire was received by the Clark County Fire Department at 7:36 p.m., and after firefighters arrived, the blaze was upgraded to a second alarm with multiple dwelling units damaged by flames, the department reported.
Four people were transported to a hospital to be treated for burns and other injuries, according to the department.
The American Red Cross of Southern Nevada stated that 30 residents had been displaced from their units due to the blaze.
Tony DiAngelo, 49, Moore’s second cousin, said he heard the origin of the fire was still under investigation, but that the roof had caved in “and that is why they didn’t find them quite as fast” as firefighters at first believed no one had perished in it.
Moore, DiAngelo said, was “awesome, outgoing, I mean, big heart. Do anything for anybody. He just liked being with his family. He loved playing games. Yahtzee, any kind of board game. Talking to Grandma all the time. Our family is back in Ohio, they live there, I live here.”
Online fundraiser
DiAngelo referred to the GoFundMe fundraising site set up for Moore, which says that Moore was employed as a patient development lead at Giving Home Health Care, an assisted care facility in Summerlin that serves people suffering from conditions contracted while working in nuclear energy programs for the U.S. Department of Energy.
A total of 10 engines, two ladder trucks, two rescues, one squad, one air resource unit, one EMS coordinator, three battalion chiefs and three investigators were dispatched to the scene, the department reported.
Firefighters at first reported that there were no fatalities before Moore and Herrera were located, county fire officials said.
Four people were transported to a hospital to be treated for burns and other injuries, according to the department.
Residents speak
Resident Carlo Yasharahla, who lives at Riverbend, said he saw smoke and flames in and on top of the building during the fire. “It’s tragic,” he said.
Yasharahla said the property is pretty well-maintained. “It’s cool, it’s quiet,” he said. “When the fire happened I was just shocked.”
Jaime Quintanalla, who said he has lived at the property for four years, wasn’t so happy with the complex. “They never fix stuff” when a tenant calls maintenance, he said.
He plans to move soon because of maintenance issues, he said.
The Review-Journal’s interview with him was interrupted by a loudspeaker on an Arcadia Security car, ordering a reporter and a photographer to leave.
The security guard in the car, who refused to provide his full name, followed the reporter and the photographer to the street. He tried to get them to leave the public sidewalk in front of the building and told the photographer he would be charged with trespassing if he showed up again, but eventually the security guard backed off and left.
Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow @JeffBurbank2 on X. Review-Journal staff writer Noble Brigham contributed to this report.