Claims News Service, Jan. 31, 4:56p.m. EST– The fire that rippedthrough the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino last Friday could havebeen a lot worse in terms of the amount of the resulting insuredloss. An expert analysis from international catastrophe riskservices provider, Risk Management Solutions, reported that thefire could have caused more damage had it started in a differentplace in the building and not contained as fast as it was.

According to RMS, This incident is one of many of possible firescenarios; examining the risk of a fire starting in a guest roomrather than the roof in a hotel of similar size and layout to theMonte Carlo when fire sprinkler systems do not function properly,illustrates how losses could have reached $75 million.

“Situations like this are a vivid reminder of the potential forlow-probability, large-loss events within the realm of fire riskunderwriting,” said Mark Rascio, product manager for the RMS firemodel in a release. Rascio also mentioned that tourist spots likethe Monte Carlo are vulnerable to steep business interruption costsin addition to building and content losses.

RMS will soon be launching its new account fire model that willprovide metrics for risk managers.

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