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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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