Smoky fire at high-rise hotel-casino was arson

Tom Gardner

Friday, July 23, 1999 | 3:33 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A smoky fire that forced the evacuation of two high-rise towers at the Atlantis Casino Resort early today was deliberately set, an investigator confirmed.

"There was no other heat source in the area. It couldn't have happened any other way," fire inspector Ron Jones said.

He refused to be more specific.

"I can't give you what I got," he said.

Reno Fire Chief Chuck Lowden said the two-alarm fire broke out just before 2 a.m. in a planter filled with artificial greenery in an atrium area between two 18-story hotel towers.

The fire was quickly put out by sprinklers, but thick smoke drifted up through the next three or four floors.

Jones said all of the 600 rooms and the casino were evacuated. He did not know the exact number of people told to leave.

Lowden said a few people complained of minor smoke inhalation, but nobody was taken to a hospital.

The chief said damage from the smoke and fire were almost negligible, but the sprinklers left a lot of water that had to be cleaned up.

"Water can get into electrical circuits. We don't want somebody in an elevator getting stuck someplace," he said.

Guests wrapped in hotel blankets huddled in the hotel parking lot in the cool morning air, waiting for the all-clear so they could return to their rooms.

"I was sleeping and I heard the fire alarm. I figured it was nothing. Then I opened the door and saw light smoke," said Laura Deitsch of Las Vegas.

"I just yelled, 'Get out!' grabbed my purse and got out," she said.

There was only light smoke in the stairwells as she walked down from the 16th floor, but she said the stairs got crowded as she descended."

"I waited too long," said Rita Morrison of Walnut Creek, Calif. "It was pretty smoky on the stairs by the time I got there. I had my three kids and I was panicky. Definitely panicky. I thought we were all going to die."

The Atlantis plans a ribbon-cutting Wednesday for its new 27-story, 392-room tower at the resort 2 1/2 miles south of downtown Reno.

While it was unaffected by the fire and smoke, Lowden said the project may have helped keep today's problems minimal in the older towers.

"They have a brand new fire control system," he said. "It worked extremely well and indicated exactly where the problems were."