On Thursday, Mystic Lake Casino experienced a brief fire as part of the building’s roof caught alight, much to the annoyance of many a gambler inside the Minnesota
Construction workers were cutting a steel joist on the roof at around 9:30 a.m, when sparks hit the foam insulation causing the fire to break out.
Meanwhile, several floors below gamblers blissfully ignorant of the potential crisis continued to feed their favourite slot machines until staff began evacuating them to a safer area of the casino building. As casino visitor Char Ellingsley explains:
“They just kept asking me to move from section to section and it just smelled like plastic burning, like somebody dumped a cigarette in the ashtray.”
One lady that wasn’t too pleased at being made to move was Irene Weingartz, 77, of Mankato, who already had a $110 bonus notched up on her slot machine and refused to budge until she cashed out her winnings.
Later, wistfully looking over to her lucky slot machine behind the yellow evacuation tape Weingartz said: “I can’t go across the line to the machine. I guess there are enough other machines.”
During the incident, according to eye-witnesses, fire and black smoke could be seen emanating from the Mystic Lake Casino roof, while fire department workers hacked through the roof and sprayed it with water. Amazingly, half the casino’s gambling area remained opened during the fire.
The fire eventually came under control at around 10:30am, while at 11am over 100 casino customers undeterred by the smoky smell had already lined up for the casino’s 2-for-1 brunch deal. One of them, Paul Kicksey, 64, commented:
“I came for the brunch. It was hazy over there [pointing towards the taped-off section]. The place is half shut down. I’ve never seen it like this.”
Fortunately, no one was injured and firefighter Prettyman, who was familiar with resilient casino goers under reacting in potentially dangerous situations humorously remarked:
“Their motto is ‘This too shall pass’.”
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