Same Day Coverage
- Breaking News: Unclear when fire-damaged Monte Carlo can be reopened (1-25-2008)
- Las Vegas fire history (1-25-2008)
- Abowitz: What fire? (1-25-2008)
- Monte Carlo Overview (1-25-2008)
The wispy column of smoke rising from the roof of the gleaming-white Monte Carlo hotel triggered an anxiety rush across Las Vegas that winter morning. As the smoke thickened, old-timers harked back to other hotel fires, including the one in 1980 that killed 87 people and injured 700 others at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
So the Jan. 25, 2008, fire at Monte Carlo would prove to be something of a test: How quickly and safely would the hotel’s 3,002 guest rooms be evacuated? How fast could the Fire Department respond and mount a rooftop attack on the flames? Were local hospitals and the UMC burn center ready to treat victims? Would the day end in calamity or in calm?
Here is the Las Vegas Sun’s coverage of the day’s events — as they unfolded minute-by-minute and were published on the newspaper’s website, and in a narrative recap for the next day’s newspaper, from insiders’ points of view, that showed how the hotel, its guests, and emergency services agencies across the valley responded to the fire.
