Sorry for my hostile comments. The horror of that day came back for me. Yes, I was in that fire. I had been told to avoid the hotel that day because something was going to happen. Other people knew about it too. None of the taxis would park in front of the hotel that day and the vendors were absent from that part of the beach all that afternoon.If you were helping with the rescues then I don't have to tell you how awful it was.
The rumors before and after were that it was union members (plural) who had been setting the fires (plural). There were fires in the hotel almost daily for the week before the big one on December 31. Supposedly the Secret Service was there to investigate the planned casino heist. At least one of the people who died that day had been killed before the fire started. It was a woman and I think she had been strangled but I'm not sure. I think the publisher or editor of the local newspaper also died in the fire.
It was more than just an accidental fire set by one random guy. A lot more was going on.
I'll believe you were there and I am sorry you had to go through it. The Teamsters were a dangerous bunch back then. I have been working in opposition to them for the last 18 years or so. But the general conclusion is that the fire started as a small intimidation tactic, like the other small fires over that week, and that it went terribly out of hand.
It was indeed a horrible day. I'll never forget the poor girl that had to be evacuated from the rooftop half naked after she had to scramble out of her room. And the many others.