Apartment fire sends man to burn center

A Carson man was taken to a burn center after suffering severe burns to his face during a fire in his apartment Saturday night.

The fire started just before 5 p.m. in an upstairs apartment in the 400 block of S. Saliman Road.

Neighbors said a resident walked up and down the row of apartments warning people there was a fire and to get out.

"When we arrived we could see smoke showing from the eaves and the first team found a male occupant unconscious in the apartment," said Battalion Chief Dan Shirey. "We immediately made plans for extraction and transportation."

Shirey said initially a Care Flight helicopter was called to transport the man, reportedly in his mid-50s, but was called off once the extent of his injuries was determined.

"Care Flight couldn't go directly to a burn center, so the individual was taken to (Carson Tahoe) Regional Medical Center and from there to a burn center," Shirey said.

The fire was contained to the upstairs apartment, however neighbors were evacuated for about two hours before being allowed to return.

The Carson City Sheriff's Department shut down Saliman Road from Como Street to Fifth Street for about two hours.

The apartment manager Robert DaSilva said the man lived alone, didn't smoke and mostly kept to himself.

Shirey said the official cause of the fire is under investigation and investigators were called to the scene.

• Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.