Las Vegas Casino Evacuated: Excalibur Hotel Casino Evacuated After 'Smoky Smell' Fills Three Floors Of Property Tower [PHOTO]
Things got hot at a Las Vegas casino. Officials said an overheated ventilation motor caused a smoky smell and an evacuation in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
MGM resorts spokesman Gordon Absher told the Associated Press that employees at the Excalibur evacuated one of the properties four towers after the alarms went off. No one was injured.
“Alarm went off at 2 am in Excalibur. 30 min later they evacuated us. Multiple unknown alarms going off in my hotel tower. Great,” tweeted @sitarah, a guest at the Excalibur.
"@vegasnewsnow what's going on at the Excalibur? We have been evacuated and there are at least eight fire engines. #Vegas,” tweeted another guest, @mikelaurel.
Guests were allowed back in to the 28-floor structure two hours later, the AP reported.
While there was no actual fire, officials took precautions after a smoke smell spread through the casino’s ventilation system. The smoke smell was drawn down from the roof and filled three floors in one 1,000-room tower. The tower averages 36 rooms per floor. The machinery was fixed by Tuesday afternoon, according to the AP.
Absher said the casino-hotel would deal with customers who were inconvenienced by the incident "on a case by case basis."
One guest said management offered to compensate him with a free buffet and refund his hotel room charges.
Dave Ward, of Canada, told the AP that he was awaken shortly after 2 a.m. by a phone call from his friend, who had been evacuated.
"I jumped out of bed and looked out the window to see all the emergency response," he said. "So I got dressed and grabbed my essentials and walked out."
Ward added that he smelled burning plastic and saw a haze in the air.
Las Vegas hotels have enacted strict fire codes since two deadly high-rise hotel fires more than 30 years ago. The MGM Grand hotel blaze in November 1980 killed 87 people, while an arson fire at the Las Vegas Hilton nearly three months later killed eight people.
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