June 16, 1998

The Gold Strike Hotel and Casino is located on U.S. Highway 93, just outside of Boulder City, Nevada, and near the Hoover Dam. The Old West theme resort was built in the late 1960s. The Casino was completely destroyed in a 1998 fire. The hotel’s tower survived the fire relatively undamaged. The eight hotel rooms suffered water and smoke damage.

The fire started at approximately 1:00 AM on June 16, 1998 and quickly escalated to a four-alarm emergency. Boulder City firefighters were the first to arrive at the scene and quickly called for assistance from the Henderson, the National Park Service and the Clark County fire departments.

It was later determined that the fire began on or near the roof of the building outside of the casino. The flames quickly climbed a wooden wall of the casino's facade and into the roof and attic areas of the gambling hall, leaping over the casino's fire sprinkler and detection systems.

By the time the firefighters arrived, the casino was already fully involved.

Extraordinary circumstances, made the Gold Strike fire extremely difficult to fight. The property had only one water supply, a 6-inch pipeline leading from Boulder City. The pipe transferred about 1,400 gallons of water a minute - not enough to fight the blaze.

Trying to secure additional sources of water, firefighters accessed a one million gallon water reserve stored in tanks at the Gold Strike.

Unfortunately, the roof of the casino collapsed rupturing the hotel's sprinkler system. Thousands of gallons of water drench the burning casino at once, draining the hotel's water supply.

The problems with water pressure and access extended the time it took to control the fire. The 100 firefighters needed over four hours and about 1.5 million gallons of water to get the fire under control. It took several more hours to extinguish the hot spots. Despite the severity of this fire, there were no injuries or deaths. The property damage amounted to almost $30 millions.