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On the morning of November 21 1980, at about 07:10 PST, a fire broke out in a delicatessen at what was then the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (Now Bally's Las Vegas) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, a well-known, 26-story luxury resort with more than 2,000 hotel rooms. The event remains the worst disaster in Nevada history.
About 5,000 people were in the hotel and casino at the time of the fire. Smoke and fire spread through the building, killing 84 people and injuring 785, including tourists and employees. There were 87 deaths in total, including three as a result of injuries sustained in the fire. Most fire damage occurred in the casino on the second floor and its adjacent restaurants, although most of the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation on the upper floors of the hotel. Openings in vertical shafts (elevators and stairwells) and seismic joints acted as chimneys and spread the smoke and heat all the way through the 26th floor.
The fire was caused by an electrical ground fault inside a wall soffit. The wiring inside the wall was used to power a refrigeration unit for a food display cabinet. The vibration of the machine caused the wires to rub against each other, and the friction damaged wires arced and developed into a fire, which was detected hours later by a hotel employee. The fire spread through the casino at up to 15-19 feet (4.5-5.7 metres) per second. The fire also spread to the lobby, fed by wallpaper, PVC piping, glue, and mirrors, which were made from plastic. The burning material created toxic fumes as well as smoke, which killed a high percentage of the victims.
Most deaths occurred in the stairwells, where the doors locked behind each person. Victims died from smoke inhalation. Firefighters saw four or five people who died - all holding hands. One dead man was found holding on to his family, who were also killed. A woman was found dead near an elevator; its call button had a long streak down the soot-covered wall where the woman had pressed it, then fallen unconscious.
While firefighters extinguished the casino and restaurant area the fire sprinkler system kept the fire contained within these areas. The High rise hotel area was equipped with a fire sprinkler system that did perform properly by keeping the fire out of the high rise hotel area. As it was, the fire was considered to have been the second-worst hotel fire in modern U.S. history. It is interesting to note that in this fire, NFPA studies show that occupants did not exhibit panic behavior. Instead, many acted altruistically and took rational steps to preserve their lives. Examples of this include putting towels around doors (to block out smoke), notifying other occupants, offering refuge in their room, and using wet towels for their face.
According to the official report by the Clark County Fire Department, the concluded cause of the fire was an improperly grounded electrical wire. The casino and restaurant area were not protected by a fire sprinkler system with the excuse that the area was occupied 24 hours a day and a fire would be quickly noticed and contained with portable fire extinguishers. The building designers and the Clark County Building Officials allowed the area to go unprotected by a fire sprinkler system for budgetary reasons against the recommendations of the Local Fire Marshal. Guests only learned of the fire upon actually seeing smoke or hearing other guests warn them; the hotel's alarm system was destroyed before fire alarms could activate. Fire doors were reportedly only installed after complaints from firefighters attending a convention. Eventually, $223 million USD in legal settlements were paid out as a result of the disaster.
The MGM Grand was repaired and then sold to Bally's Entertainment which changed the name to "Bally's Las Vegas." The repairs and modifications included fire sprinkler and fire alarm systems throughout the building. Subsequently, the present MGM Grand hotel-casino was built about a mile (1.6 km) south at the northeast corner of the Las Vegas Strip and Tropicana Avenue.
An urban legend claims that many of the dead were found still sitting at slot machines, having refused to leave the machines. Documentation from the investigation does not support these stories.
References
Bryan, John (1992). Human Behavior and Fire. In Arthur Cote (ed.) NFPA Handbook, Section 7, Chapter 1. Quincy MA: NFPA. ISBN 0-87765-378-X
External links
- MGM Grand Las Vegas 11/21/1980 Fire Clark County F.D. Final Report (21 November 1980) reports 84 deaths
- Kirk Kerkorian article by the Review Journal reports the addition deaths from fire.
- KNPR's "The Las Vegas I Remember" - MGM fire
- reviewjournal.com - MGM Grand Fire
- Engineering Diasaters
"MGM Grand Las Vegas hotel fire"