Dupont Plaza Hotel arson
Dupont Plaza Rescue by Phyllis Gottschalk
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| Time | 3:30pm |
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| Date | December 31, 1986 |
| Venue | Hotel Dupont Plaza |
| Location | San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Coordinates | 18°27′22″N 66°4′13″W / 18.45611°N 66.07028°WCoordinates: 18°27′22″N 66°4′13″W / 18.45611°N 66.07028°W |
| Type | Fire |
| Cause | Arson |
| Deaths | 98 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 140 |
| Convicted | 3 convictions: Hector Aponte, Armando Jimenez, and José Rivera were charged with and convicted for the arson. |
| Sentence | 99 years in prison |
The Dupont Plaza Hotel arson was a fire that occurred at the "Hotel Dupont Plaza" (now San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino) in San Juan, Puerto Rico on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1986.
The fire was set by three disgruntled employees of the hotel who were involved in a labor dispute with the owners. The fire claimed between 96 and 98 lives and caused 140 injuries. It is the most catastrophic hotel fire in Puerto Rican history and the second deadliest in the history of the United States.
The Dupont Plaza opened in 1963 as the Puerto Rico-Sheraton and was operated by the Sheraton hotel company until 1980, just before Sheraton imposed significant fire-safety measures in its hotels throughout the world. Before national fire safety requirements were enacted in 1990, most hotels had implemented fire safety measures based on local regulations and ordinances, which in some localities were lax, despite frequent fires and fire-related deaths at hotels. In June 1985, the Dupont Plaza was inspected by the local fire department and was found to have deficiencies in its safety systems, including malfunctioning equipment and lack of evacuation and emergency plans. The fire sprinkler system, which was not criticized in the fire department's report, was not automated, as it was in 95% of hotels across the U.S. at that time. In 1985, there were 7,500 reported fires in hotels and motels across the U.S., with 85 deaths and $56 million in damages ($125 million in present-day terms).
The employees of the hotel were in the middle of a labor dispute with hotel management; negotiations between the hotel and the employees' union, Local 901 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, had begun in October 1986. The union represented 250 out of the hotel's 450 total employees. One of the main issues causing the dispute was an alleged management plan to terminate 60 union members from employment and replace them with non-union employees. In the week the fire took place, there had been three smaller fires at the hotel: one in a linen closet, one in a pile of cardboard boxes, and another in a roll of carpeting. Management had then added thirty more security guards. Tension between management and employees had become so great that desk clerks, taxi drivers, and local food stand employees were advising tourists to stay away from the hotel and its casino. One week after the fire, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernández Colón, stated that, according to preliminary reports, in the days before the fire "information was going around that something was going to happen".
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