On November 21 1980 the 26 story MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada was occupied by approximately 5000 people when a tragic fire broke out in the restaurant known as “The Deli” as a result of a ground fault in the wall killing 85 people. A major contributor to the deaths was combustible furnishings, interior finishes, foam padding and moldings, air supply, and a very large undivided area that allowed for rapid fire spread and heavy smoke. Construction of the hotel and casino began in 1972 and was opened in December 1973. With approximately two million square feet of area only partial fire sprinkler protection was installed in the arcade, showrooms and convention areas on the ground level only. During construction the owners decided
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Four died of burn related injuries and one jumped from the building. Of the smoke inhalation fatalities 67 were located on floors 16 through 26. The smoke easily spread throughout the hotel because of impaired smoke dampers and other HVAC components, openings in the vertical shafts, stairways, elevator shafts, and seismic joints allowing toxic smoke to spread throughout the hotel and all the way to the top floor. At the time the fire department had no building code enforcing authority. Clark County Office of Building and Safety had hired on-site resident inspectors for the code enforcement inspections during the construction process. It was later determined the building had 83 code violations, design flaws, installation errors and materials that all contributed to the spread of the fire and smoke. The fire initiated 1,327 lawsuits against 118 companies where a $223 million settlement plus $105 million settlement from the hotel was assigned to be distributed to the victims over a three year period. MGM never admitted negligence. The reconstruction cost was approximately $300 million with hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business and hundreds more lost revenues from gaming and
Four died of burn related injuries and one jumped from the building. Of the smoke inhalation fatalities 67 were located on floors 16 through 26. The smoke easily spread throughout the hotel because of impaired smoke dampers and other HVAC components, openings in the vertical shafts, stairways, elevator shafts, and seismic joints allowing toxic smoke to spread throughout the hotel and all the way to the top floor. At the time the fire department had no building code enforcing authority. Clark County Office of Building and Safety had hired on-site resident inspectors for the code enforcement inspections during the construction process. It was later determined the building had 83 code violations, design flaws, installation errors and materials that all contributed to the spread of the fire and smoke. The fire initiated 1,327 lawsuits against 118 companies where a $223 million settlement plus $105 million settlement from the hotel was assigned to be distributed to the victims over a three year period. MGM never admitted negligence. The reconstruction cost was approximately $300 million with hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business and hundreds more lost revenues from gaming and