in a serving station in the delicatessen. The im-
proper installation of an electrical cable and its
exposure to warm moisture over a period of years de-
teriorated the wiring’s insulation. A short-circuit cre-
ated the first flames. Clark County, Nevada, building
inspectors found hundreds of building code viola-
tions that contributed to the tragedy, including air
shafts that should have had at least a two-hour fire
rating, inadequate exit signs and emergency light-
ing, 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, in-
cluding a computer that monitored sprinkler heads,
smoke detectors, and security doors from a com-
mand center, as well as smoke-exhaust fans.
Impact The victims of the fire, about thirteen hun-
dred 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.Further Reading
Coakley, Deirdre, et al.The Day the MGM Grand Hotel
Burned.Secaucus, N.J.: Lyle Stuart, 1982.
Frieman, Fran Locher, and Neil Schlager.Failed Tech-
nology: True Stories of Technological Disasters.New
York: ITP, 1995.
Car yn E. NeumannSee also Natural disasters.638 MGM Grand Hotel fire The Eighties in America
Firefighters survey the remains of the MGM Grand Hotel’s casino after the 1980 fire that claimed eighty-five victims.(AP/Wide World
Photos)