The man had told her he came out of his hotel room to find the hallway filled with smoke and had to crawl on his hands and knees to get to a stairway.
Geist said she saw a man receiving oxygen on the back of an ambulance. Neither the fire alarm nor sprinklers activated, Keeling said.Ĭaron Geist, a 59-year-old casino patron and Temecula resident, said others inside the casino told her there was smoke coming from an elevator on the ninth floor.
Officials said security personnel were at all service elevators and stairwell entrances for safety reasons. “Right now crews are working on getting half of our elevators in Tower One working.” “People went back up through service elevators,” Green said. They were brought up by casino employees and security. “It holds between 3,000 and 4,000 people.”Īrson hadn’t been ruled out, but the Pechanga Fire chief noted that it isn’t believed to be the cause.Įveryone was escorted back to their rooms at around 5 p.m., according to Green. The journey time between Pechanga Resort & Casino and Newport Beach Fire Department Station 3 is around 7h 2m and covers a distance of around 98 miles. “There’s a lot of people in that ballroom,” Keeling said.
