Fire forces evacuation at Fitzgeralds

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

Three floors of Fitzgeralds hotel downtown were evacuated today after a small fire in a trash bag triggered alarms and an automatic sprinkler system.

After firefighters arrived at the hotel and learned the blaze was on the eighth floor, a second alarm was called in case the fire expanded.

A total of 20 units and 65 firefighters from Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas responded to the alarm at 301 Fremont Street about 12:43 a.m., Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

No one was injured.

The fire ignited from cigarette butts tossed into a nylon trash bag hanging on a maid's cart, Szymanski said. The cart was near an elevator on the eighth floor, directly under a sprinkler, which doused the flames, he said.

The fire destroyed the waste container and part of the cart. Damage is estimated at $800.

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