“The fire traveled at 17 feet per second,” recalled Clark County Fire Chief Roy L. When firefighters arrived a few minutes later, flames already were rocketing through the 50,000-square-foot casino, consuming its plastic decor at an unstoppable pace. For hours, a small fire smoldered unnoticed inside the wall and ceiling cavity.Ībout 7 a.m., a ferocious blaze suddenly burst into the kitchen and literally chased waitresses and breakfast customers out of the deli. While hotel guests pulled slot machines and played blackjack, an electrical wire shorted in the nearby delicatessen. Then they visited the MGM Grand’s lavish casino. The night before the fire at the 2,076-room 26-floor hotel, a group of Printronex employees and spouses went to a late show starring singer Mac Davis. I don’t know if I’ll ever completely get over it.” Said Rafael Patino: “I was very nervous about small and stupid things for a long time after the fire: the smell of a barbecue, lighting the fireplace, going to hotels. “My suspicion is that it had a deeper effect (on the people) than was obvious on the surface.” The fire “was a deep trauma to the company,” he said.
