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Old 12-09-2014, 07:36 AM
 
Location: Salt Lake City/Las Vegas
1,596 posts, read 2,796,444 times
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Newly released aftermath photos of the Nov. 21, 1980 fire at MGM Grand - now Bally's. 85 people died in The Strip's greatest tragedy.

MGM Grand 1980 Fire Investigative Photos - Las Vegas Sun News

Bill
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Old 12-09-2014, 08:59 AM
 
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Holy cow!
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Old 12-09-2014, 02:02 PM
 
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Such a sad time for the city. I knew coworkers when I worked at Bally's that where still having weekly nightmares because of the screams for help from the guests that where trapped in the North Hotel Tower during the fire.
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Old 12-09-2014, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Las Vegas
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Is it known what caused the fire?

I remember waiting to find out if my uncle was alive. Luckily, he made it.
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Old 12-09-2014, 07:16 PM
 
Location: Pahrump, NV
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some of those photos are just chilling.....
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Old 12-10-2014, 12:46 AM
 
Location: Ponderay, Idaho
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I was playing poker that morning at Caesars Palace. It was about 7 am. Some people ran by the poker room saying that there was a fire at the MGM Grand. After several minutes (and more reports of the fire), several of us left the table and made our way to the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road. Fire department equipment and firefighters were just arriving. It was like a nightmare.

We learned later that the fire started in The Deli kitchen and quickly spread throughout the casino fueled by the flammable plastic decorations throughout the facility. The first floor was quickly engulfed. Like a blast furnace, flames shot from the open front entrance and deadly smoke rose from the first floor, appearing in great waves from different points on the upper floors. Many guests left their rooms and made their way via the stairs to the roof. Within about an hour, helicopters from Nellis AFB arrived to pluck survivors from the roof.

Almost all the fatalities were from smoke inhalation. As I recall, only one fatality was from burns and one died after jumping from a high floor. Smoke got the rest.


pimit2 (Bob)
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Old 12-10-2014, 02:03 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yellowsnow View Post
Is it known what caused the fire?

I remember waiting to find out if my uncle was alive. Luckily, he made it.
My understanding...it was caused in the kitchen.
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Old 12-10-2014, 02:07 AM
 
Location: Las Vegas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by forestgump99 View Post
My understanding...it was caused in the kitchen.
He was a chef so chances are that's where he was. He never would talk about it.
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Old 12-10-2014, 06:59 AM
 
13,586 posts, read 13,038,503 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by forestgump99 View Post
My understanding...it was caused in the kitchen.
I have read that as well. I was also told that the kitchen in question didn't have smoke alarms and such because it was licensed as a 24 hour operation. Nobody really thought about that when they cut the hours of the kitchen for economic reasons. The law of unintended consequences reared her ugly head.
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Old 12-10-2014, 11:34 AM
 
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It was a refrigerated pastry case built into the wall in the deli that caused an electrical fire. The compressor and condenser of the case was placed into the same wall soffit that also shared the same space with the electrical conduct and refrigeration coils. The refrigerator exhaust fan caused vibration in the wall soffit that caused the electrical conduit and copper coils to rub together and create friction that caused the ignition of the fire.

MGM
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