That wiring powered the refrigeration unit for a nearby food cabinet display. The fire had been sparked by wiring inside the soffit.

On November 21, 1980, early in the morning, a fire, that had started hours earlier, broke through a wall soffit in The Deli and roared into the casino. It was the deadliest hotel fire in Nevada history and the second deadliest in American history. There were, by estimates, 5,000 guests staying the luxury hotel on the morning of the fire.

But in 1980, an early morning fire changed forever the way we remember that beautiful hotel.