A fire that broke out Friday in the upper tiers of the
half-built American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami "may
have" been caused by construction crews cutting steel with
blowtorches, according to Yanez, Weaver & George of the Ft.
Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL. Sparks from torches "apparently
set off plywood" and sent a fire "raging along the northern
rim" of the $190M future home of the Heat. The official
cause of the three-hour fire, "which did more damage to the
scaffolding for the roof than to the main structure," was
still being investigated. No injuries were reported.
Construction on the facility "is likely" to be delayed a few
weeks while the damage is repaired. Miami-Dade County Mayor
Alex Penelas: "It doesn't appear there will be any delays at
all in the opening of the arena by the end of next year
because we were ahead of schedule" (SUN-SENTINEL, 11/14).
The blaze "will set construction back two weeks," but the
December '99 opening "is still on" due to construction being
three weeks ahead of schedule. Heat Owner Micky Arison: "It
doesn't appear there was any wing damage. It wasn't in the
critical path" (Frances Robles, MIAMI HERALD, 11/15).
ON THE WEB: Throughout the three-hour blaze, pictures
of the burning arena were displayed on American Airlines
Arena's Web site (http://www.aaarena.com). A camera mounted
on Miami's Everglades Hotel south of the arena takes
pictures of the arena and updates them for the site every 15
minutes (Jervis, Epstein & Markowitz, MIAMI HERALD, 11/14).
