Apartment complex where fire displaced 36 residents failed 7 inspections

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — An apartment complex where a September fire displaced more than 30 residents had failed multiple inspections.

The fire happened on Sept. 1 at Bella Solara Apartments located at 7101 Smoke Ranch Road, near Interstate 11/U.S. 95.

According to documents 8 News Now obtained from the city of Las Vegas, Bella Solara failed seven fire inspections in the past three years.

Three of those failures happened days after the Sept. 1 fire.

“They’re negligent,” Chris Karnafel said.

Karnafel and his 76-year-old mother lived at Bella Solara for 15 years, but they are currently calling a hotel near the Las Vegas Strip home.

“We have been displaced now for 18 days. We had to leave the complex with what we had on our back, and have not gotten anything else. I’m wearing the same clothes I wore that day,” he said.

Las Vegas city records showed one of the reasons Bella Solara failed an inspection after the Sept. 1 blaze was for not having a fire alarm company inspect all building fire alarms.

“I spoke to several people that, you know, lived in that building — that were in that building the day of the fire — and they all say that the building fire alarm did not go off,” Karanfel said.

According to the Red Cross, 36 residents were displaced by the fire. None were seriously hurt.

Karanfel had renters insurance but said he and his mother are having a hard time finding an affordable apartment.

“If it wasn’t for my insurance company at least putting us up in a place and making sure that we were not on the streets, we would be on the streets,” he said.

Inspectors discovered issues with the fire alarms at Bella Solara as far back as 2022.

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue has yet to release the cause of the fire.

Bella Solara’s owners haven’t responded to repeated requests for comment.

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