A three-alarm fire broke out at the Imperial Palace this evening. Of course, I think every fire at a strip hotel is treated as a three-alarm fire, ever since the MGM Grand disaster. This one doesn't seem to be a big deal, though. When I stayed there a few weeks ago, I did make a note of where my room was vis-a-vis the emergency exits, and thought it wasn't a place I'd want to be in a disaster. Seeing all the construction they were doing in the back, I figured there were lots of opportunities for an accident. Guess it's one more reason not to stay there (not that I really needed one). Though to be fair, I'm never really that nervous in a Vegas hotel; the casinos might control every other regulatory force in Nevada, but thanks to the deaths of 85 people at the MGM Grand in 1980, the building codes and fire inspectors have some teeth to them. I remember I was staying at, I think, the Horseshoe when the fire marshall rained on the Aladdin's parade during their planned opening (they were able to open the casino, if memory serves, but not one tower of the fully-booked hotel).