Colorado Springs couple witnesses Las Vegas fire

A Colorado Springs couple were eating lunch right across the street from the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas when a fire broke out at the hotel Saturday afternoon.

“People were yelling and saw a bunch of people running away from the smoke,” said Billy Gabel.

Gabel and his wife Rudilee were celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary-
when their lunch turned into a scene out of a movie.

“There was palm trees in the corner of the pool that went up in flames and everything else around it,” said Gabel.

The Gabel’s say it’s an image that hits close to home.

“Stuff like that makes me nervous because we’ve seen so many fires and stuff like that in Colorado Springs. What goes through your mind is, are people going to be able to get out,” said Gabel.

The Clark County Fire Department is still investigating the cause but says the pool’s cabanas and artificial plants helped fuel the blaze.

“It’s a lot of work to get our assets up there. But we are very good at highrise firefighting,” said Greg Cassle- with the Clark County Fire Department.

“It was very impressive seeing the response from the fireman and police. They did an unbelievable job,” said Gabel.

The fire was put out in about 30 minutes. No one was seriously injured but two people were treated for smoke inhalation.