MGM Grand fire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The MGM Grand fire occurred on November 21, 1980 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (now Bally's Las Vegas) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The fire killed 87 people, most through smoke inhalation. The tragedy remains the worst disaster in Nevada history, and the second-worst hotel fire in modern U.S. history, after the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta that killed 119 people.
At the time of the fire, approximately 5,000 people were in the hotel and casino, a 26-story luxury resort with more than 2,000 hotel rooms. Just after 7:00 on the morning of November 21, 1980, a fire broke out in a restaurant known as The Deli. Smoke and fire spread through the building, killing 84 people and injuring 650, including guests, employees and 14 firefighters. Three more people succumbed to their injuries within a year, making the final death toll 87. While the fire primarily damaged the second floor casino and adjacent restaurants, 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 allowed toxic smoke to spread to the top floor.
The disaster led to the general publicizing of the fact that during a building fire, smoke inhalation is a more serious threat than the flames thereof.
Contents |
[edit] Cause
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 in the deli. 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 also spread to the lobby, fed by wallpaper, PVC piping, glue, and plastic mirrors, racing through the casino floor at a rate of 15 to 19 feet per second until a massive fireball blew out the main entrance along The Strip. Seven people died in the casino. The burning material created toxic fumes and smoke, which caused the majority of the deaths.
Due to faulty smoke dampers within ventilation ductwork, the toxic fumes circulated throughout the hotel's air circulation system, accelerating the spread of the poisonous air.
Most deaths occurred in the stairwells, where the doors locked behind each person as the only open doors in the stairwell were on the roof and on the ground floor. Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation, many of them in their sleep. Firefighters found several people who died while holding hands, including at least one family. A woman was found dead near an elevator; its call button had a long streak down the soot-covered wall where she had pressed it, then fallen unconscious.
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 that section of the building. NFPA studies show that in this fire the hotel occupants did not exhibit panic behavior. Instead, many 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.
[edit] Did exemptions of fire sprinkler rules lead to the disaster?
The casino and restaurants were not protected by a fire sprinkler system because they were exempt from rules requiring fire sprinklers in areas occupied 24 hours per day. Clark County building inspectors granted the exemption -- despite the opposition of the fire marshal -- reasoning that a fire would be quickly noticed by occupants and contained with portable fire extinguishers. At the time of the fire, the area had ceased 24 hour operation and was closed and unoccupied when the fire broke out.
The hotel's alarm system was manually-activated and because no manual switches were in the casino and restaurants, no alarm was raised. Eventually, $223 million in damages were paid to settle lawsuits associated with the disaster.
[edit] Aftermath
The hotel was repaired and improved, including the addition of fire sprinklers and an automatic fire alarm system throughout the property, and sold to Bally's Entertainment, which changed the name to "Bally's Las Vegas." The tower in which 87 people died is still operating as part of the hotel today. A second tower, unaffected by the fire opened in 1981. The present MGM Grand hotel-casino was built just to the south, near the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue
On February 10, 1981, just 90 days after the MGM fire, another fire broke out at the Las Vegas Hilton. But because of the lessons learned from the MGM tragedy, only eight people died compared to the 87 at the MGM.
Because of the two incidents, there was a major reformation of fire safety guidelines and codes and today, Las Vegas has some of the strictest guidelines for hotel fire safety in the United States if not the world.
[edit] See also
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
- MGM Grand Las Vegas 11/21/1980 Fire Clark County F.D. Final Report (21 November 1980) reports 85 deaths and "more than 700 injuries"
- Kirk Kerkorian article by the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports 87 deaths (corrected from the original report of 85 deaths) and "hundreds" of injuries
- KNPR's "The Las Vegas I Remember" - MGM fire
- reviewjournal.com - MGM Grand Fire
