Las Vegas Monte Carlo Hotel Fire

I was at the gym yesterday when news of the fire at the Monte Carlo Hotel flashed across the television screen. We watched helicopters fly over the smoking building and saw firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. In a relatively short time, things were under control.

One of the reporters said that he believed the Monte Carlo staff would have trouble evacuating the hotel. He said that he'd seen it happen before - gamblers are reluctant to walk away from money on the table, or to leave before cashing in their chips. Hotel guests don't want to abandon expensive possessions. I was shocked, so I decided to do some research on hotel evacuations.

I discovered that clearing a high-rise hotel is very difficult. Las Vegas resorts have sprinkler systems, multiple alarms and flashing lights to protect their guests. Still, a high-rise hotel has hundreds or even thousands of guests, so the staff is trained to help evacuate the hotel. Hotel employees must check every room, and that takes time. Some people don't pay attention to fire alarms or simply can't hear them. Many of the Monte Carlo guests ignored the fire alarm until hotel staff banged on their doors and told them to evacuate, according to KLAS-TV.com. Other guests said they didn't hear any alarm at all; they found out about the fire by watching TV. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the hotel is divided into fire zones, and alarms are designed to sound zone by zone as a fire spreads. Since this fire began on the roof, most of the hotel alarms didn't go off right away.

Fortunately, the evacuation went smoothly and no one at the Las Vegas Monte Carlo Hotel was seriously injured. The evacuation went smoothly, and MGM Mirage, which owns the Monte Carlo, moved guests to other MGM hotels.

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