MGM Grand Hotel fire
The MGM Grand Hotel fire occurred on November 21, 1980, in Las Vegas, Nevada, resulting in a tragic loss of life and significant injuries. The fire started in an empty delicatessen and rapidly spread, overwhelming the casino and venturing into the hotel tower due to inadequate fire safety measures and code violations. Approximately 700 individuals were injured, and 85 people lost their lives, primarily due to smoke inhalation. Rescue efforts were significant, with helicopters aiding around 250 survivors trapped on rooftops and balconies.
Fire investigations identified the blaze's origin as a short-circuit caused by improperly installed electrical wiring, compounded by a range of building code violations such as insufficient smoke dampers and poorly sealed elevator shafts. In response to the disaster, the MGM Grand implemented extensive safety upgrades and the fire code in Nevada was revised to enhance hotel safety. The resulting compensatory settlement for the victims reached $140 million, marking it as one of the largest in U.S. history. The fire at the MGM Grand has since served as a pivotal case in discussions about fire safety regulations in commercial buildings.
MGM Grand Hotel fire
The Event Tragic Las Vegas conflagration
Date November 21, 1980
The MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas killed eighty-five people, making it the deadliest U.S. hotel blaze since 1946. The disaster led to tighter fire regulations and broader deployment of water sprinklers in hotel rooms and common areas.
In 1980, the MGM Grand Hotel consisted of a casino, restaurants, nightclubs, and convention rooms in a low-rise section, as well as 2,076 hotel rooms housed in a twenty-six-story tower. Shortly after 7:00 a.m. on November 21, two employees of a coffee shop spotted signs of a fire in the hotel’s empty delicatessen. Within six minutes, fire engulfed much of the casino. The pressure of the hot gases released by the fire forced open the main doors of the casino, and the fire quickly consumed the carport outside. Flames destroyed a plywood covering at the bottom of a stairwell, and smoke shot up the stairs. Heat, smoke, and flames passed into elevator shafts through unsealed doors. Sprinklers put out fires in a hallway, and firefighters doused the blaze on the main floor. However, smoke passed through the twelve-inch-wide seismic joints running from the casino level to the top of the tower. It billowed into open shafts, particularly those that were not properly sealed. Adding to the problem were smoke dampers that were bolted in such a manner as to make them inoperable.
Meanwhile, helicopters from government agencies and private businesses flew to the scene to rescue about 250 survivors stranded on the roof or perched on balconies. Seven hundred people were injured by the blaze. Most of those killed by the fire were claimed by the smoke that billowed throughout the two-million-square-foot building. Only eighteen of the victims died on the casino floor, while sixty-one people died on the sixteenth through the twenty-sixth floors. Six other victims died on unspecified floors.
Fire investigators discovered that the blaze began in a serving station in the delicatessen. The improper installation of an electrical cable and its exposure to warm moisture over a period of years deteriorated the wiring’s insulation. A short-circuit created the first flames. Clark County, Nevada, building inspectors found hundreds of building code violations that contributed to the tragedy, including air shafts that should have had at least a two-hour fire rating, inadequate exit signs and emergency lighting, improperly fire-rated stairways and corridors, poorly vented elevator shafts, and numerous holes in corridor fire walls. The MGM Grand reopened on July 30, 1981, after installing new safety systems, including a computer that monitored sprinkler heads, smoke detectors, and security doors from a command center, as well as smoke-exhaust fans.
Impact
The victims of the fire, about thirteen hundred people, divided $140 million, in the largest compensatory damage settlement in U.S. history. Extensive changes in the fire code were designed in the hope that there would never be another hotel fire on the scale of that at the MGM Grand.
Bibliography
Coakley, Deirdre, et al. The Day the MGM Grand Hotel Burned. Secaucus, N.J.: Lyle Stuart, 1982.
Frieman, Fran Locher, and Neil Schlager. Failed Technology: True Stories of Technological Disasters. New York: ITP, 1995.