Vol. 4, No. 2, February 2008
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Monte Carlo catches fire
The fire started around 11 a.m., at which point all hotel guests on floors 25 and above were evacuated, according to Clark County Fire Chief Steve Smith.
As the fire blew across the south façade, officials evacuated all hotel rooms and the gaming floor. Guests were evacuated to the Grand Garden Arena and MGM Grand.
“All employees were evacuated,” said Gordon Absher, a spokesman for the property. “We did a head-count and everyone was accounted for.”
No injuries were reported and witnesses said the evacuation went smoothly.
Neither MGM Mirage nor Clark County Fire Department officials knew the cause of the fire at press time. However, it was confirmed that welders were working on the roof of the hotel tower earlier in the morning.
Likewise, a damage estimate was not available, but officials said the fire was largely contained to the exterior of the building. They credited the hotel’s sprinkler system for preventing serious damage inside the building.
Firefighters smashed out windows and battled the conflagration from inside the building, as well as the roof. The fire was fully contained shortly before 1 p.m., but firefighters continued mopping up and making sure no hot spots remained.
Randall W. Hale, with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas School of Architecture, watched the fire from the top of the parking structure at New York-New York. He suggested that the incident could result in a change to building codes for future projects.
The foam exterior of the hotel tower burns easily, he said, and had conditions not been favorable, it would have carried the fire around to all sides of the building like a match.
Hale suggested that glass and steel exteriors, like those on the rising buildings of MGM’s CityCenter behind Monte Carlo, or glass and foundry like New York-New York would be better alternatives.
Las Vegas has already had to revisit building and fire codes following the infamous fire in November 1980 at the MGM Grand—now Bally’s—that killed 87 people and injured 700 others. As a result of the fire, sprinkler systems were required in all properties.
