Vegas Casino Evacuated: Overheated Ventilation Motor at Excalibur Casino

Casinos are typically known for setting off alarms-usually some lucky soul hits the jackpot or wins a new car, but not at Las Vegas' Excalibur casino. According to reports, a smoky smell sounded the bells and whistles because of an overheated ventilation motor.

Gordon Absher, a spokesman of MGM resorts, said that hotel employees evacuated one of the Las Vegas Strip casino's four towers after alarms went off at approximately 2 a.m., Tuesday. Guests weren't allowed back in the building for two hours.

While there was no actual fire, officials took precautions after a smoke smell spread via the casino's ventilation system. Reports indicated that the smoke was drawn from the room and filled three floors in one 1,000-room tower. The tower averages 36 rooms per floor. The machinery was fixed by Tuesday afternoon, according to the AP.

In dealing with customers who might have been inconvenienced by the incident, Absher told reporters, "we will handle this in the normal course of delivering our good customer service," he said. "We'll deal with this on a case by case basis."

Reports list that the smell generated from the smoke was that of burning plastic with a view of haze in the air.

Fortunately, Las Vegas is known to have some of the most advanced fire protective systems in the world.

It is reported that Las Vegas hotels have enacted strict fire codes since two deadly high-rise hotel fires more than 30 years ago. The MGM Grand hotel blaze in November 1980 killed 87 people while an arson fire at the Las Vegas Hilton nearly three months later killed eight people.