Mother, children left with nothing after massive fire in central Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A mother and her three children are asking the community for help after a massive fire tore through their apartment complex Wednesday, leaving them without a home.
“Your heart drops,” Krystal Griep said. “When you realize everything is gone.”
Griep spoke with 8 News Now Friday, after she walked through the rubble of what once was her home.
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She said she is still trying to come to terms with the tragedy.
“It still hasn’t fully set in,” she said. “I know when it does I’m just going to break down and cry.”
Griep said she and her three children watched their apartment get destroyed Wednesday afternoon during a fire near Desert Inn Road and Maryland Parkway.
Krystal Griep said she and her three children watched their apartment get destroyed Wednesday, July 3, 2024 afternoon during a fire near Desert Inn Road and Maryland Parkway. (Krystal Griep) Krystal Griep said she and her three children watched their apartment get destroyed Wednesday, July 3, 2024 afternoon during a fire near Desert Inn Road and Maryland Parkway. (Krystal Griep) Krystal Griep said she and her three children watched their apartment get destroyed Wednesday, July 3, 2024 afternoon during a fire near Desert Inn Road and Maryland Parkway. (Krystal Griep)
“Just to hear a bang on the door,” Groep recalled. “Telling us that there’s a fire and we need to get out.”
From there, she said they saw the flames take out 10 different units, leaving a total of 30 people without a place to stay.
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“It’s really traumatic, it’s really humbling,” she told 8 News Now. “But it just sucks. It really sucks.”
Griep said the Red Cross of Southern Nevada helped them and they have a temporary place to stay, but rebuilding a life isn’t easy.
“I’ve been struggling these past few years,” Griep said. “And I finally got a place and on my feet and now we are back at square one.”
Clothes, furniture, and other essentials are all needed now, so the family is asking the community for help.
“I don’t have pillows, blankets, a microwave,” Griep said. “I don’t have nothing but what we have on.”
She said she hopes this will help them move on from the situation that feels like a nightmare.
“You never expect it to happen to you,” Griep concluded.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family.
Griep said she especially needs clothing for her children, a 4-year-old girl, a 12-year-old boy, and a 19-year-old man.
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