Harrah’s bingo hall suffers extensive smoke damage in second fire in as many months

The bingo hall at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino and Resort has suffered extensive smoke damage from the second electrical fire to spark in its ventilation system in less than two months, Maricopa Fire’s Division Chief Mark Boys said Thursday.

“We are right in the middle of the investigation right now,” he said shortly before 6 p.m., explaining that he and others on site were going through the salvaging process as well due to extensive smoke damage.

The call for help came in from the Ak-Chin Fire Department at about 3:30 p.m. Maricopa responded along with the Sun Lakes and Gila River fire departments. A ladder truck from a Phoenix fire station also assisted.

“On arrival we had crews from Maricopa Fire that saw heavy black smoke coming from the south and east of the bingo hall,” Boys said. “They immediately wanted to attempt to do an ‘all clear’ to make sure everyone was out. They couldn’t because of heavy smoke and poor visibility.”

Instead, crews ventilated the area while searching for the seed of the fire, in an attempt to remove the lethal clouds of smoke.

Boys said the initial investigation shows that the fire started in the air-handling system on the west end of the bingo hall, “opposite of the end where they had a fire to the end of January that was also in an air-handling system.”

By 3:50 p.m., fire crews had declared the area clear meaning all patrons had exited the building safely, although the heavy smoke continued to fill the area. Boys noted that Harrah’s employees did “an excellent job of evacuating immediately.”

Witnesses told fire personnel they smelled an electrical type of burning odor and within minutes the smoke enveloped the interior of the building.

Two Harrah’s spokeswomen and Ak-Chin Indian Community tribal leaders could not be reached immediately for comment.