Inspector flagged hazards in Las Vegas building before collapse

A Clark County building inspector flagged structural issues at a central Las Vegas commercial building days before the front of the structure tumbled to the ground, according to county records.

The building department inspector noted a “potential structural hazard” at 6105 W. Flamingo Road, which housed a Subway, a smoke shop, a pizzeria and a vacant storefront after an Aug. 3 inspection.

The inspector “had the opportunity to speak to the property rep/owner and explained what was being seen…as it relates to structural building issues,” the report read. “Owner stated he is in the process of contacting a structural engineer to take a look at this.”

The records obtained Wednesday included photos showing cracks in the upper exterior of the building.

On Aug. 12, a front portion of the building plummeted to the ground, injuring three. The Clark County Fire Department also rescued three people trapped in the building due to rubble at the front of the complex blocking exits.

Following the collapse, the county building inspector reached out to an unidentified representative for the owner of the property, Rand & Miner LLC, according to the records.

“Completed follow up inspection of location,” an inspector wrote. “At time of inspection the building was collapsed. Spoke with property representative to follow up if he ever had the structural engineer do the assessment and he confirmed he did indeed have that done.”

The inspector said the owner’s representative told the county on Aug. 10 that a structural assessment was, in fact, done and a bid proposal was created to “have the building shored up.”

“Unfortunately by the time the construction crews could complete the shoring of the building it collapsed on August 12,” the inspector wrote. “Will follow up at a later date to check the status of the building and how the property owner plans to move forward. Currently Clark county building department has condemned the building for use.”

An attempt to contact a representative of Rand & Miner was not successful on Wednesday.

Also this week, the Metropolitan Police Department released 911 calls from the police and fire department response. Concerned bystanders can be heard on the calls reporting the collapse to dispatchers.

“We just had a building collapse over here on Flamingo and Jones…we just saw a bunch of smoke,” a male caller said. “It looks like the whole front end just collapsed.”

A female caller told dispatchers “a whole building just collapsed! I’m about to start checking on people I am CPR certified.”

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.