LAS VEGAS, Nevada USA -- AeroTech, Inc., the nation’s premier manufacturer of composite propellant hobby rocket motors, today filed a lawsuit against Clark County, the Clark County Fire Department (CCFD), two fire investigators and a private company that worked with the County in responding to an October 15, 2001, fire at AeroTech’s Las Vegas facility.

The complaint alleges that, contrary to the County’s published report, there were two separate fires at the AeroTech facility. The first, which resulted in the death of AeroTech employee Avelino Corpuz, was quickly extinguished. However, CCFD management ignored information gathered during prior inspections and poured water on materials that, they knew, catch fire when water is applied to them, endangering the lives of the firefighters they supervised.

Not only did their actions endanger the lives of its employees, their actions also began a series of reactions that resulted in an explosion and fire that erupted three hours after the first fire was extinguished. The second fire destroyed the entire building and disrupted all businesses in it.

The suit alleges that, following the second fire, agents of CCFD repeatedly entered the former AeroTech facility without a warrant and, over AeroTech’s repeated objection, seized an unknown amount of property. In violation of AeroTech’s civil rights, they refused to return the property to AeroTech or even report what was taken. They also disturbed the scene to such an extent that AeroTech cannot conduct a meaningful investigation of the cause and origin of the fire.

In attempting to respond to rumors and allegations about the fire, AeroTech repeatedly requested the return of its records and records of all prior inspections of its facility. Shortly after one of the requests was made, on November 6, CCFD Chief Greene admitted that documents were shredded. No one has yet disclosed the contents of the now shredded records.
Finally, although it repeatedly stated that it was conducting an investigation of the fire, CCFD issued a four paragraph report stating the that the origin of the “fire” was “accidental,” completely failing to acknowledge that there was a second fire and strongly implying that the first fire resulted in the building’s destruction.

The property seized from AeroTech has lost much, if not all, of its evidentiary value. The seizures and disturbances have severely impeded AeroTech’s ability to conduct a meaningful, independent investigation. In addition, CCFD followed its botched investigation by shredding documents and issuing a misleading report. As a result, AeroTech has been unable to defend itself from both the allegations made by the other tenants of the building, accusations leveled by CCFD, and most recently, the state legislature.

Plaintiff’s attorney Mark N. Savit said, “AeroTech, its employees, its fellow tenants in the building and the firefighters who risk their lives every day to protect us are all victims of the outrageous conduct of Chief Greene and CCFD.

“The lawsuit filed this morning seeks not to enrich AeroTech, but to help it and the others who shared in the tragic loss of October 15, 2001, to get on with their lives and livelihoods.

“More importantly, it seeks to restore public trust in CCFD by putting an end to the mismanagement, deception and destruction that led to the disruption of so many lives and businesses and the insidious attempt to hide that conduct.”

Mr. Savit is partner with Patton Boggs LLP. The firm has offices in Washington D.C., Northern Virginia, Dallas, Denver, Boulder and Anchorage.