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Firefighters Battling Blaze at Illinois Casino

The Associated Press


JOLIET, Ill. --

A kitchen fire at the Empress Casino in northern Illinois has forced the evacuation of everyone inside.

Click here for slideshow
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/gallery?section=news/local&id=6720480&photo=1 (http://abclocal.go.com/wls/gallery?section=news/local&id=6720480&photo=1)

Police Lt. Stephen Breen says there are no reports of any injuries. He says the fire started in a kitchen area that was under renovation and hasn't spread to the rest of the casino in Joliet.

He says all casino guests and workers were evacuated as a precaution and the nearby parking garage was cleared.

Breen says welders apparently started the Friday morning blaze. He says a spark might have hit some grease around the ceiling area, but that it's too soon to say exactly what happened.


http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Firefighters-Battling-Blaze-at-Illinois-Casino/46$63161 (http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Firefighters-Battling-Blaze-at-Illinois-Casino/46$63161)

(http://a.abclocal.go.com/images/wls/cms_exf_2007/_video_wn_images/wls_032009_fire2.jpg)

They probably cleared the parking garage so they could move in gaming tables and keep the cash flowing.

Where's Joliet Jake and Elwood?  :103- :103-

Bet they had somethin' to do with it! :72- :72- :72-

Luckily not as bad as the MGM fire of 1980.

Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I1jg1YapBw), Part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3VlBg9dMsY)

Hey Joey, how about this for a video of the week?

I heard an interview a couple of years ago with Lark Williams (local radio personality), who was a cocktail waitress there at the time. She said it happened about 7 in the morning, when thankfully there were only a few people on the floor. She was close to the deli and by chance had bent down to pick up her purse from the floor when the fireball broke out and passed over her head. It heated the air in the casino so that the glass doors exploded out, and the fireball set fire to the palm trees across the street. The hotel tower burned too and when it was all over, they found dead families that had stopped to pack their bags and were waiting for the elevators.

This fire is why slot machines no longer have wooden cabinets.

Very good videos Op-Bell  :131-   It covers a some good information.
I just finished a term paper on fire behavior and historical fires in the United States.
This was one of my talking point in my paper because of the changes to the fire codes after this fire.
The hotel had an automatic fire sprinkler system, but the casino did not. They we granted an exemption for this area because the casino was open 24 hrs.
Their thought was that a fire would be easily detected and extinguished since it was occupied all the time.
Other big changes were wall and ceiling materials and their classification. The hotel had carpet on the walls that was glued on. This contributed to the rapid fire growth.
5 years after this fire the code then started to include smoke evacuation system for highrise buildings.
These system are very complex and put the fire floor in a negative pressure and the floors above and below in a positive pressure. This sandwich approach keeps the fire gasses from spreading throughout the building.
In coastal areas the dampers get corroded and often don't work as engineered. Every year I see buildings with faulty smoke control systems.
We now require an annual test and balance performed on these systems and the building owners go crazy. Its between a  $5,000.00 and $20,000.00 dollar test depending on the height of the building and sq. ft. of each floor.
A video reminder to them as to what can happen when it fails is very useful.

years ago wert there a fire at all the companys that make slot machines/i thought it was called the chicogo fire/all around the same time to/