The Dupont Plaza Hotel fire is considered to be the most catastrophic hotel fire in Puerto Rican history. It occurred in the Hotel Dupont Plaza (now San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino) on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1986.
The employees of the hotel were in the middle of a labor dispute for higher salaries, which had just been rejected by the owners. Three of the disgruntled employees planned on setting several fires with the intention of scaring tourists that wanted to stay at the hotel. They set fire to opened cans of a flammable liquid in a storage room on the ground floor of the hotel. The fire burned out of control, growing to massive proportions. The superheated gasses swept up the grand staircase through the hotel and into the casino. The fire ultimately claimed 97 lives and caused 140 injuries.
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