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Smoke, Fire, and Death

A kitchen fire at Las Vegas's MGM Grand Hotel went out of control on the morning of November 21, 1980, causing fear and panic among the hotel's 4,500 guests.

“Fire! Fire!”

The cries echoed through thehallways of the 26-story hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the 24th floor, Donald and Janet Tebbutt leaped out of bed. Donald pulled back the drapes and looked out the hotel window. All he could see was thick smoke billowing up from below.Frightened,he and his wife ran out into the hallway. There, they met swarms of other guests. All were looking for the best way out. No one knew whether to go down the stairs or up to the roof. It was a scene of utter chaos.

The Tebbutts tried to make their way down the stairs. But the smoke in the stairway was simply too heavy. Turning around, they headed up toward the roof. But the stairway was becoming jammed with people. And the fumes and smoke were making it harder and harder to breathe.

As it turned out, the door to the roof was locked. There were windows, but they were lined with steel mesh and unbreakable. For a minute, it looked as though everyone in the stairwell was trapped. Then a man threw himself at the door. It popped open. People poured out onto the roof, gulping in fresh air.

All this happened on November 21, 1980. About 7:00 A.M. a kitchen fire broke out in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The flames melted the alarm control box. Because of that, no alarm ever rang. The fire caught all 4,500 guests by surprise. There were other problems as well. None of the guest rooms had smoke detectors. And only the basement, first floor, and top floor had water sprinklers.“More sprinklers would have made all the difference in the world,” a firefighter later said.

Police and fire trucks rushed to the scene. But the tallest rescue ladder reached only to the ninth floor. Everyone higher up was stranded. Many people climbed out onto their balconies. The police urged them to stay calm. Using bullhorns, police shouted, “Don't jump! Don't jump! The fire is under control!”

But one woman couldn't wait. She tied bedsheets together to make a rope. Then she crawled out her 19th floor window and headed down on the makeshift rope. She made it to the 17th floor.Then she lost her grip and fell to her death.

Meanwhile, some guests were trapped in the halls. Many were overcome by the smoke. They slumped against walls, gasping for breath. Some people stayed in their rooms. A few wisely soaked towels and used them to block the smoke from seeping under the doors. “If they had stayed in their rooms until we got them,” said Fire Chief Ralph Dinsman, “a lot of the dead would have survived.”

About 200 people made it to the roof. Rescue helicopters swooped down to get them. But the helicopters could take only a few people at a time. Everyone wanted to be the first to leave. People started pushing and shoving. Luckily, someone in the crowd was a police officer. He pulled out his gun and yelled, “Stand back and keep cool or I will shoot.” It worked. Everyone stepped back to wait his or her turn. Before long, all the people on the roof were rescued.

Others were not so lucky. When the fire broke out, some gamblers didn't want to leave the first floor casino. They wanted to roll the dice or deal the cards one more time. The employees insisted on leaving. But 10 people stayed behind to scoopup their money and chips. All 10 died in the flames.

It wasn't the fire, however, that killed the most people. It was the smoke. The flames never got beyond the second floor. But black smoke funneled up the stairways to all 26 floors. Some people died in bed. One couple was found lying arm in arm. A waiter who had come to serve them breakfast lay dead on the floor beside them. In all, more than 700 people were injured and 84 people died. Kevin Beverton was one who made it out alive. When asked about the fire, he described it this way:“It was death, absolute death there.”