LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -
Imagine all of your belongings gone in an instant. That's a reality for dozens of Las Vegas families.
Investigators continue to sift through the rubble of an apartment complex on the east side of Las Vegas after a three-alarm fire Thursday night tore through two buildings.
Twenty-four units were destroyed at the Sonoma Shadow apartment complex near Karen Avenue and Maryland Parkway.
"The heat was so hot it felt like I was on fire," said survivor Greg Sutton. "I have a third-degree burn on my right shoulder. I have blister bubbles on my back, along my shoulder blade."
Sutton sustained the burns while trying to save his girlfriend, Lovie Lloyd. Lloyd is nine months pregnant.
"When I fell, I thought that I hurt her (unborn child). I knew I wasn't bleeding, wasn't having pain. I felt her moving like she was excited. She didn't know what was going on but she was OK," Lloyd said.
Lloyd suffered second-degree burns to her arm. The blisters on her feet are so painful she can barely walk.
"The baby will be here next Thursday," Sutton said. "I won't have anything to give to her. We had almost everything we needed for her – diapers, everything. All that is burnt up."
Sutton and Lloyd are among the nearly 50 people left homeless by the fire.
Investigators estimate the damage at $1.5 million. While the cause of the fire remains under investigation, early signs point to careless use of fireworks.
"This will be one of the most costly and largest fires as a result of fireworks that our department has seen in the recent past," said Clark County Fire Chief Bernal Washington.
The displaced families are being aided by the American Red Cross, which anticipates spending a quarter of a million dollars to do so.
Copyright 2012 KVVU (KVVU Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.
Chris "Boze" Anguay/FOX5
