On November 21, 1980, an electrical fire in a restaurant of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas spread through the casino on the ground level. Smoke rose through the ventalation system, elevator shafts, and stairwells up all 26 floors. The casualties (85 fatalities and 650 casualties, with three more deaths occuring within the year) made this the second-worst hotel fire in the U.S.*
Built in 1973, the hotel was not fully sprinklered nor alarmed. These were not required under the contemporary code, although there were code violations found in the investigation.
Although the fire began on the hotel's ground level, most of the people killed were found above the 19th floor, and most died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Since there was no alarm system, many of the hotel guests were awakened by the sirens of the responding fire trucks and the noise of the helicopters. Some switched on the room televisions and saw that their hotel was on fire. Evacuation of the building took four hours.
The MGM Grand on the Strip now, the one I saw from the plane, is not the same building, although the original was rebuilt. It became Bally's in 1985.
Most of what I know about the fire at the MGM Grand I know in the context of How Things Changed, because the MGM Grand is like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factor and Imperial Foods, fires used to illustrate safety issues in training classes. I noticed, in my hotel this trip, that exit signs were posted at the floor level, where you might actually see them if you were crawling, and there was a designated fire refuge shelter. I also noticed lots of sprinklers, lots of sprinklers. Nevada, I've always heard, has some of the strictest fire codes in the country.
You do learn from tragedies. Just three months after the MGM Grand there was a fire at the Las Vegas Hilton with eight fatalities and 200 injuries. Greater loss was likely avoided because fire department officials were already putting in place lessons learned from the MGM Grand: they broadcast instructions to the Hilton guests on the TV news.
For more: The Clark County Fire Department's Significant Emergencies page.
*The worst was the Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta in 1946; 119 fatalities. That was December 7, 1946.
Posted by Nic at November 21, 2005 12:20 PM | TrackBack