The Wall Street Journal-20080126-Fire Damages MGM Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas
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Fire Damages MGM Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas
A fire damaged upper floors of MGM Mirage's 32-story Monte Carlo hotel in Las Vegas on Friday but was quickly contained. There were no major injuries and unspecified financial losses.
While the sight of flames shooting from the top of a Las Vegas casino was a reminder of previous major hotel fires in the city, the blaze was brought under control in slightly more than an hour, limiting losses and the potential for harm to guests. The fire appeared to burn along an outer facade near the top of the hotel, rather than inside of the hotel.
MGM Chief Executive Terry Lanni said "early indications" show the damage "may have been significant on the exterior."
The Monte Carlo was built 12 years ago as a joint venture between companies that were then known as Mirage Resorts Inc. and Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. Since then, both companies have become part of what is now MGM Mirage. The property in 2004 underwent a $19 million room renovation.
Mr. Lanni said Friday afternoon that all guests and employees had been evacuated from the property and that he was unaware of any injuries. He said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the fire.
Mr. Lanni said the property, which is between the company's New York, New York and new $7.8 billion CityCenter project, is typically at 95% occupancy. The fire hasn't affected the project next door, as far as MGM officials can tell.
Though the Monte Carlo was shut down Friday morning, officials said they would look at reopening portions of the casino and hotel after they assess the damage.
Firefighters' ability to quickly control the blaze is in stark contrast to earlier years in Las Vegas fire history. Two deadly fires erupted in Vegas hotels in the early 1980s. In November 1980, a blaze at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (now Bally's Las Vegas) killed 87 people. A few months later, a fire at the Las Vegas Hilton killed eight people.
A spokesman from the Clark County Fire Department said investigators were looking into the role of welders who were working on the roof as a possible source of the blaze.
He said that the tower contained water reservoirs on upper floors of the building -- a precaution instituted on the strip after the MGM fire -- which allowed firefighters to extinguish the blaze quickly.
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Nicholas Casey contributed to this article.
