In 1980, new city ordinances required hotels to have smoke detectors on every floor. A year later, all new high-rise buildings were required to install automatic spinkler systems and other early fire warning devices. The Westchase Hilton Hotel, unfortunately, was built before those requirements. Located at 9999 Westheimer, the 13-story hotel did have a fire detection system that alerted the front desk.

Just after 2 a.m. on March 6, 1982, the buzzer went off. Thinking the alarm was malfunctioning, the desk clerk shut it off manually. When the alarm sounded again minutes later, the clerk again shut it off. One of the hotel's 200 guests soon reported smoke to the clerk, but the Fire Department wasn't notified until 2:30 a.m. The fire destroyed a fourth-floor room, filling other rooms on the floor with smoke and claiming 10 lives immediately. Five other people were seriously hurt, and two later died. It was Houston's most deadly hotel blaze since the Gulf Hotel Fire in 1943.