Firefighters weren’t just clowning around

Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999 | 11:47 a.m.

Clark County Firefighters weren't clowning around Wednesday night as they simulated responding to a terrorist bombing at the Circus Circus hotel-casino.

Circus Circus supplied the victims in the form of employees, for the drill designed to help get emergency crews ready for possible Y2K disasters.

"Of course we don't anticipate this sort of thing happening, but we want to be ready for any type of scenario," Clark County Fire Department spokesman Steve La-Sky said. "With New Year's Eve only a couple of weeks away we felt it would be a good time to test ourselves."

The exercise started in a pink and white clown adorned 1976 bus. Hotel security and firefighters carried victims out of the bus that a simulated bomb had blown up in.

Next a bomb blew up in the hotel itself forcing firefighters to work their way inside and take survivors to safety.

The entire simulation lasted about 45 minutes and was deemed a success by La-Sky.

"This was a worst-case scenario," La-Sky said. "Our main concern on New Year's will be crowd control and the problems that will pose if we need to get to an emergency.

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