Fire at Borgata Water Club

[Poshua]

The Borgata sent out an email to players club members today. Apparently there was a fire at the under-construction Water Club wing of the Borg. There were no injuries and the Borg is operating as normal, except there is no valet parking today. No word on whether and how much this will delay opening of the Water Club, which has been slated for this winter.

Did anyone see this in person and get a sense of the fire's scale?

Email text follows:

THE WATER CLUB FIRE UPDATE

Atlantic City, NJ (September 23, 2007) — Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa announced today that there was a fire this morning at The Water Club which is a signature hotel adjacent to Borgata. Thanks to the skillful efforts of the Atlantic City Fire Department, the Atlantic City Police and Emergency Management Departments and the New Jersey State Police the fire was contained and there were no injuries. Damage to The Water Club appears to have been contained to the exterior of the building. The fire did not affect the Borgata – which is open for business as usual. The only impact to our operations is that we won't have valet parking for the rest of the day. The Self-Parking Customer Garage is open for all customers and there is assistance available with your baggage.

[Mr. AtlanticCity]

From what I understand, the fire was not directly inside, but outside the structure (scaffolding). However, there will be some inside damage from the fire, smoke, and water. This was a pretty big fire. There will have to be some repairs, which will probably put the project behind schedule.

Something caught fire on the roof of the breezeway connecting the tower to the main casino. It very quickly rose up the side of the building.

[Yogi Rob]

My friend works there and just sent me a bunch of before/after fire photos. The damage seems worse than the article suggests. Looks like the entire facade has been burned off at least on one side

[kylephilly]

I was staying at the Borgata all weekend, I left today at noon and before I left I looked out the 35th floor window and saw a bunch of firetrucks. I said, hmm that's weird, left the hotel.

Nobody said anything to me nor did I hear about this fire until a few hours later when I got home from my mother.

[DrewOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
I was staying at the Borgata all weekend, I left today at noon and before I left I looked out the 35th floor window and saw a bunch of firetrucks. I said, hmm that's weird, left the hotel.

Nobody said anything to me nor did I hear about this fire until a few hours later when I got home from my mother.

[/ QUOTE ]

Same here. I stayed there last night and didn't even know about the fire until I got up this morning and someone in the poker room told me about it.

At any rate, apparently the side of the new tower that faces the main casino entrance was fairly well damaged. Part of the food court in the casino is closed. I was told that this is somehow related to the fire, but I am not sure how.

[pocketpared]

I was playing poker there and left just as the fire started. A dozen Borgata people ran by me then out the back door by the poker surface parking lot. Someone else must have reported it but we seemed to be first on the scene. I was standing there with them watching the building about 200' away. Something fell first with a loud bang then some wispy smoke started coming out. I watched about another 10 minutes then left. They were letting people walk out the back and go to their cars up until I left. Tons of cop cars and fire trucks were arriving as I left and most of the roads were starting to get blocked. The fire got worse after I left but it didn't do much real damage. According to reports just some flammable unsheathed material burnt that is easily replaceable.

[SyrialKilla]

The fire at Borgata was started on the roof og the breezeway. Most of the tower is built as most buildings are with flame resistant materials, but the wooden scaffolding that went up the entire side of the tower that was still unfinished caught fire. The fire ran all the way up the scaffolding but never touched the building itself. The sad part is that even though Borgata didn't have a whole lot of fire damage to the new tower the water damage is unimagineable. Tons and tons of water was poured into the open side of the building to put out the fire of the scaffolding. The water damage is what will cost the Borgata, time and money. They can afford it with their numbers though. No one was hurt.

[chillrob]

I got there on Sunday afternoon, I think not long after the poker room had been reopened. All day the room only had about half the players it would normally have had on a Sunday. I had no problem parking in the surface lot, and didn't notice any evidence of a fire. I heard traffic was backed up for awhile though, and the valet parking was out, so a lot of people went to the Taj instead, where I heard it was very crowded that day.