MGM Grand fire
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The MGM Grand fire occurred on Friday, November 21, 1980 at the
MGM Grand Hotel and Casino Horseshoe Las Vegas (formerly MGM Grand Hotel and Casino and Bally's Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It originally opened as the MGM Grand Hotel on D ...
(now Horseshoe Las Vegas), located on the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...
in
Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...
. The fire killed 85 people, most through
smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (subtype of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...
. The fire began from a refrigerated pastry display case in one of the restaurants, located on the first floor. Fire engulfed the resort's casino, and smoke travelled into the hotel tower. The
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
remains the deadliest
disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...
in Nevada history, and the third-deadliest hotel fire in modern U.S. history, after the 1946
Winecoff Hotel fire The Winecoff Hotel fire of December 7, 1946, was the deadliest hotel fire in American history, killing 119 hotel occupants, including the hotel's original owners. Located at 176 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, the Winecoff Hotel was advert ...
in Atlanta that killed 119 people and the 1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico that killed 97. The incident led to the reformation of fire safety guidelines and codes in the state.


Fire

At the time of the fire, about 5,000 people were in the MGM Grand, a casino and 26-story hotel with more than 2,000 hotel rooms that had opened in 1973. At approximately 7:07 a.m. on Friday, November 21, 1980, a fire began in a restaurant known as The Deli. The fire was discovered during an inspection of the restaurant by a tile crew. A crew supervisor noticed a flickering light, which turned out to be a wall of flames. An employee of the hotel's bakery recounted how just after 7 a.m. he saw smoke coming from the ceiling vents just before the lights went out. MGM security was immediately advised of the situation, and alerted the Clark County Fire Department (CCFD) which was the first agency to respond. CCFD received a call reporting the fire at 7:17 am, with the first engine arriving on site from across the street at 7:19 am. A third alarm was called at 7:22 am, and a Metro Police helicopter pilot requested all available helicopters at 7:30 am. Other agencies included the North Las Vegas Fire Department, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, and the
Henderson Fire Department The Henderson Fire Department (HFD) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Henderson, the second largest city in Nevada with 279,226 residents spread out over . USAR Task Force The HFD is a ...
. A massive helicopter rescue effort from
Nellis Air Force Base Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military ...
pulled 1,000 people from the roof of the MGM Grand, involving both
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
UH-1N The Bell UH-1N Twin Huey is a medium military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Bell Helicopter. It is a member of the extensive Huey family, the initial version was the CUH-1N Twin Huey (later CH-135 Twin ...
(Hueys) from the
57th Wing The 57th Wing (57 WG) is an operational unit of the United States Air Force (USAF) Warfare Center, stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The 57 WG's mission is to provide well trained and well equipped combat forces ready to deploy ...
based in Indian Springs and CH-3E (Jolly Green Giants) from the 1st Special Operations Wing based in
Hurlburt Field Hurlburt Field is a United States Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County, Florida, immediately west of the town of Mary Esther. It is part of the greater Eglin Air Force Base reservation and is home to Headquarters Air Force Spe ...
, Florida (which were in Nevada to participate in Red Flag '80). The fire spread to the lobby, fed by
wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so t ...
, PVC piping, glue, and plastic mirrors, racing west through the casino floor at a speed of until a massive fireball blew out the main entrance, facing the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...
. From the time the fire was noticed, it took six minutes for the entire casino floor to be fully engulfed. It spread across the areas of the casino in which no
fire sprinkler A fire sprinkler or sprinkler head is the component of a fire sprinkler system that discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a predetermined temperature has been exceeded. Fire sprinklers are extensively use ...
s were installed. Eighteen people died in the casino level of the hotel. The fire was limited to the first floor, but the burning material created toxic fumes and smoke, which ascended throughout the hotel tower via vertical shafts (elevators and stairwells) and seismic joints, causing the majority of the deaths. More than 200 firefighters responded to the fire, and some reported having to crawl through the dark and over "mounds of stuff" trying to extinguish the fire. It was later determined that the "mounds" were deceased guests and staff near an elevator bank. The Las Vegas fire department operated separately from the county fire department; the latter served the Las Vegas Strip, so city firefighters were unfamiliar with the MGM's layout, including fire escape routes. This hindered the rescue effort. Proper evacuation of the hotel guests was also hindered as there was no automatic means of returning elevators to the main floor during a fire, causing 10 deceased victims to be found in an elevator. Some hotel guests tied bedsheets together and hung them on balconies to alert first responders. Some tried using the bedsheets to descend the hotel's exterior. Fire ladders were only able to reach the ninth-floor exterior. One man escaped the hotel tower by lowering himself down a rope. Some people, trapped in their hotel rooms, broke open their windows to get fresh air, although this allowed thicker smoke from outside to come into the rooms. People below had to dodge shards of glass falling from the broken hotel windows. An expansion of the MGM was underway at the time of the fire, and a construction worker used a
scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...
platform to lower guests to the ground, after they had escaped through their hotel room windows. The Barbary Coast casino across the street was set up as an evacuation center for MGM guests.


Victims

A total of 85 people were killed (including seven employees) and 650 injured, including guests, employees, and 14 firefighters. While the fire primarily damaged the second-floor casino and adjacent restaurants, 61 deaths were on the upper floors of the hotel (19th - 24th floors), mostly in the stairwells, where all doors except on the roof and ground floor were locked and the smoke concentration was the highest. One young couple died in their sleep. Seventy-five people died from smoke inhalation and
carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as "flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large e ...
; four from smoke inhalation alone; three from burns and smoke inhalation; one from burns alone; one of
myocarditis Myocarditis, also known as inflammatory cardiomyopathy, is an acquired cardiomyopathy due to inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, chest pain, decreased ability to exercise, and an irregular heartbeat. The ...
; and one from massive skull trauma caused by a fall while attempting to escape the fire. Two refrigerated semi-trailers were set up as temporary morgues to hold the bodies of victims until they could be identified.


Cause

The fire was confined to the casino and restaurant areas. The hotel was equipped with a fire sprinkler system that performed properly by keeping the fire out of other sections of the building. The area with the most fire prevention was in the money counting area, not in individual rooms or on the casino floor. The county's fire chief had been concerned that such a fire could occur, as older hotels built prior to 1979 were not required to have certain fire safety features. Nevada governor
Robert List Robert Frank "Bob" List (born September 1, 1936) is an American attorney and politician. He served as the 24th Governor of Nevada from 1979 to 1983. He was raised in Exeter, California. He served as Carson City District Attorney from 1967 to 19 ...
said, "You can't force people to bring hotels up to codes that didn't exist when they were built." For years after its opening, the resort had declined orders to install a second fire hose in one of its showrooms. As of June 1980, only 20 percent of fire safety violations – discovered two months earlier by inspectors – had been corrected.


Electric fire

The fire was caused by an electrical
ground fault In an electric power system, a fault or fault current is any abnormal electric current. For example, a short circuit is a fault in which a live wire touches a neutral or ground wire. An open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by a fa ...
inside a wall-mounted
electrical receptacle AC power plugs and sockets connect electric equipment to the alternating current (AC) mains electricity power supply in buildings and at other sites. Electrical plugs and sockets differ from one another in voltage and current rating, shape, si ...
. A refrigerated pastry display case was added, after original construction of the hotel, to one of its restaurants (known as The Deli). Unlike a modern display case, which would be totally self-contained (compressor installed in bottom of display case), this unit functioned like a walk-in cooler or central air conditioning system, with a pair of copper refrigerant lines connecting its evaporator to a condensing unit located outside the building. When this set-up was installed, the copper lineset was run through the same wall
soffit A soffit is an exterior or interior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of any construction element. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of beams, is the underside of eaves (t ...
as a pre-existing electrical conduit and in physical contact with the conduit. The fan-forced evaporator unit in the display case was not properly secured, and thus was able to vibrate constantly while in operation; these vibrations were carried along the copper
refrigerant A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the heat pump and refrigeration cycle, refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Ref ...
lines, causing the pipes to rub against the electrical conduit in the wall soffit and make them vibrate as well.
Galvanic corrosion Galvanic corrosion (also called bimetallic corrosion or dissimilar metal corrosion) is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially when it is in electrical contact with another, in the presence of an electrolyte. A sim ...
occurred, in which the copper refrigerant pipes were in physical contact with the aluminum electrical conduit, causing the conduit to erode over time. Galvanic corrosion and vibration – as well as jagged edges and stretched wires resulting from poor workmanship during the installation – eventually resulted in the electrical wires inside the conduit missing chunks of their plastic insulation. The conduit was rendered un-grounded (there was no separate
ground wire In electrical engineering, ground or earth is a reference point in an electrical circuit from which voltages are measured, a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth. Electrical circuits may be connec ...
; the metal conduit itself was designed to function as the ground, so the disintegration of the conduit rendered the system un-grounded). These now-bare electrical conductors inside the un-grounded metal conduit glowed red-hot and began arcing, which ignited the fire. The fire reportedly smoldered for hours until it found fresh oxygen and burst into a fireball that spread into the casino, and was fed by other combustibles.


Spread of smoke

Due to faulty smoke dampers within the ventilation duct network, the toxic fumes circulated throughout the hotel's air conditioning system, accelerating the spread of the poisonous gases. The continued operation of the resort's ventilation system contributed to the fire's harmful effect. On the casino floor, there was no outlet for the smoke, which was spread into the hotel tower by the ventilation system. Smoke rapidly filled the resort's telephone switchboard room, and operators there only had enough time to warn people on the casino floor. Hotel guests were not notified of the fire, as the switchboard operators had to evacuate. The elevator shafts were located above the restaurant and casino, which also helped the smoke to spread. Guests, who earlier had found that the fire doors in some stairwells locked automatically, had propped them open for convenience. However, this allowed more smoke to spread.


Sprinkler rule exceptions

Sprinklers were located on the first two floors and the top floor of the resort. The casino and restaurants were not protected by a fire sprinkler system because they were exempt from rules requiring sprinklers in areas occupied 24 hours a day. A Clark County building inspector granted the exemption—despite the opposition of
fire marshal A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a state, provincial or territorial government, but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually in ...
s—reasoning that a fire would be quickly noticed by occupants and contained with portable
fire extinguisher A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...
s. When the fire started in The Deli restaurant, it was no longer open 24 hours per day; it was closed at the time of the fire. Although some sprinklers were in the resort, they were not located anywhere near the fire. A full sprinkler system would have cost $192,000. Because of the cost, MGM only installed the minimum number of sprinklers as required, during the resort's construction.


Aftermath

The resort was temporarily closed because of the fire. Much of the damage occurred in the casino, which was charred by the fire. The hotel hallways and stairwells were stained by
soot Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolysed ...
and smoke. Shortly after the fire, some people looted jewelry and blackened money from the resort. State gaming revenues were hurt by the MGM's closure, as the resort was one of the largest tax contributors to the local gaming industry. The county lost an estimated $1.7 million because of the closure, and it was estimated that MGM Grand Hotels could face a $1 billion loss because of the fire. After the fire, the MGM Grand was rebuilt over the next eight months, at a cost of $50 million. It reopened in July 1981, with numerous fire safety features now in place, including the addition of fire sprinklers and an automatic fire alarm system throughout the property. A two-unit computer – one of them a backup – was provided by
Johnson Controls Johnson Controls International is an American Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in around 2,00 ...
to monitor hundreds of locations throughout the MGM, helping to prevent another fire. A similar computer had also been installed at another MGM Grand hotel in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
. The Las Vegas MGM now had more than 30,000 sprinklers, including four in most hotel rooms. The hotel also had 8,000 speakers, including one in each room, allowing for fire safety instructions to be provided to guests in the event of a fire. The air-conditioning system was heavily modified to prevent smoke from entering hotel rooms, and large exhaust fans were installed, with the capability to rid the hotel of fumes in 10 minutes. Plastic pipes and wires, which contributed to the fire, were removed. A five-minute fire safety program, hosted by
Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...
in both English and Spanish, was played on televisions in hotel rooms. Resort officials believed that the MGM was now the safest hotel in the world. A minor incident occurred two weeks after the reopening, and the new safety features worked as planned. Insulation material had begun to
smolder Smouldering (British English) or smoldering (American English; see spelling differences) is the slow, flameless form of combustion, sustained by the heat evolved when oxygen directly attacks the surface of a condensed-phase fuel. Many solid mate ...
because of a welder's torch, and this set off automatic alarms. The original hotel tower, where most of the deaths occurred, continues to operate. A second tower opened in 1981. The MGM Grand was sold in 1986 to
Bally Manufacturing Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotel ...
, which changed the name to
Bally's Las Vegas Horseshoe Las Vegas (formerly MGM Grand Hotel and Casino and Bally's Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment (2020), Caesars Entertainment. It originally opened ...
. A new MGM Grand was opened in Las Vegas in 1993, at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, south of the original MGM. Bally's was again renamed in 2022, as Horseshoe Las Vegas.


Code changes

Within a week of the fire, Governor List formed a commission to determine whether older hotels in the state should be required to adopt newer fire safety rules. On February 10, 1981, just 81 days after the MGM fire, another fire broke out at the
Las Vegas Hilton The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is a hotel, casino, and timeshare resort in Winchester, Nevada. Located near the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, it is owned by Westgate Resorts. It opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, and wa ...
, killing eight people. Due to the two incidents, there was a major reformation of fire safety guidelines and codes. All buildings open to the public in Nevada were required to have fire sprinklers, smoke detectors in rooms and elevators, and exit maps in all hotel rooms. This law went into effect in 1981 and made Nevada a leader in fire safety regulation. It took several years for all buildings to be in compliance.


Lawsuits

More than 1,350 legal claims were filed as a result of the fire, and most law firms in the
Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...
were occupied with these cases. Hundreds of lawsuits were filed against MGM, seeking more than $2 billion in
damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
. One attorney, representing three local couples against MGM, expressed concern about the reopening, saying that the resort still had defects which could prove harmful in the event of another fire. MGM made numerous settlement deals with the victims in 1983, and a $76 million settlement between MGM and insurance companies was made in 1985. In 1998, there was $440,000 left over in the MGM victim settlement. The remaining money was donated to Clark County victims of fires and burns.


See also

*
List of hotel fires in the United States The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has documented several dozen hotel fires in the United States since the 1930s that have killed more than ten people each, deeming these incidents to be fires of historical note. The Winecoff Hotel f ...
*
Skyscraper fire The following is a list of fires in high-rise buildings. A skyscraper fire or high-rise fire is a class of structural fire specific to tall buildings. Skyscraper fires are technically challenging for fire departments: they require unusually high ...
* Alpine Motel Apartments fire


References

* *Bryan, John (1992). Human Behavior and Fire. In Arthur Cote (ed.) ''NFPA Handbook'', Section 7, Chapter 1. Quincy MA: NFPA.


External links

;Online articles *
MGM Grand Las Vegas 11/21/1980 Fire Clark County F.D. Final Report
(November 21, 1980) reports 85 deaths and "more than 700 injuries" * * * * * ;Videos and audio
KNPR's "The Las Vegas I Remember" – MGM fire
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mgm Grand Fire Bally's Las Vegas Fires in Nevada 1980 fires in the United States 1980 in Nevada Building fires in the United States History of Clark County, Nevada Hotel fires in the United States November 1980 events in the United States High-rise fires