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The Day the MGM Grand Hotel Burned
The staff of the Las Vegas "Sun" describes, examines, and illustrates the circumstances and consequences of the November 1980 fire that killed eighty-four people and injured scores of others
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 4, 2024
"All the wire I put in is strictly up to code, inspected and approved." -- actor Richard Chamberlain, as electrical engineer Roger Simmons
"The code's not enough for that building, AND YOU KNOW IT!" -- actor Paul Newman, as architect Doug Roberts, in an early scene from the disaster film The Towering Inferno
A solidly workmanlike text that promises everything in its succinct title, The Day the MGM Grand Hotel Burned details the November 1980 fire in the 26-story building which ultimately claimed the lives of 85 guests and employees. (The majority of the fatalities stemmed from smoke inhalation - as the initially ground floor fire turned the high-rise into a chimney of sorts - and carbon monoxide poisoning from melting plastics, but surprisingly not from burns.) Although a tragedy of the worst sort - it is the third-deadliest such incident in U.S. history - many of the 8,000+ occupants were saved by fast-arriving first responders, military personnel (many helicopters were coincidentally aloft to perform in a war games scenario at a nearby air base), and even a neighboring construction crew which put its large crane to use to rescue people who otherwise likely would have jumped or fallen to their deaths. The authors - who initially covered this incident for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper - bring a noticeable degree of journalistic integrity and punchiness to their blunt prose. While the cinematic The Towering Inferno - a somewhat recent blockbuster at the time - gets name-checked maybe a little too often, there WERE a number of superficial similarities between the fictional and real-life disasters, not the least of which was faulty wiring being the figurative and literal flashpoint.
"The code's not enough for that building, AND YOU KNOW IT!" -- actor Paul Newman, as architect Doug Roberts, in an early scene from the disaster film The Towering Inferno
A solidly workmanlike text that promises everything in its succinct title, The Day the MGM Grand Hotel Burned details the November 1980 fire in the 26-story building which ultimately claimed the lives of 85 guests and employees. (The majority of the fatalities stemmed from smoke inhalation - as the initially ground floor fire turned the high-rise into a chimney of sorts - and carbon monoxide poisoning from melting plastics, but surprisingly not from burns.) Although a tragedy of the worst sort - it is the third-deadliest such incident in U.S. history - many of the 8,000+ occupants were saved by fast-arriving first responders, military personnel (many helicopters were coincidentally aloft to perform in a war games scenario at a nearby air base), and even a neighboring construction crew which put its large crane to use to rescue people who otherwise likely would have jumped or fallen to their deaths. The authors - who initially covered this incident for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper - bring a noticeable degree of journalistic integrity and punchiness to their blunt prose. While the cinematic The Towering Inferno - a somewhat recent blockbuster at the time - gets name-checked maybe a little too often, there WERE a number of superficial similarities between the fictional and real-life disasters, not the least of which was faulty wiring being the figurative and literal flashpoint.
January 6, 2019
This is a serviceable, sometimes detailed, at other times pedestrian description of a horrible fire at the MGM Grand that occurred in 1980 and claimed more than eighty lives. The authors (a group of beat newspaper writers from Las Vegas) first recount the event itself, and the individual stories of how the guests at the hotel resort discovered the fire and then how they reacted. Some people panicked and jumped from their balconies or windows, breaking or spraining limbs in the best cases and dying on impact more often than not. Large groups panicked and fled into the hotel corridors, where they died of smoke inhalation in a frenzied stampede for exits they more than likely couldn't see through the coiling black fog. Others remained in their rooms or made their way to the roof, or survived through some combination of sheer luck and the caprice of fate (something a lot of the guests, as gamblers, probably already knew a lot about).
Ironically, the parts of the book that should be most compelling, the fire and the human tragedy and the subsequent heroism, is less well-written and actually under-explored when compared to the postmortem describing how the fire happened and the political and economic fallout for the money men in Vegas when the s--- finally hit the fan.
It was a real life "Towering Inferno" as the authors repeatedly make clear ("it was like the 'Towering Inferno'" is a nice simile, but after the fourth or fifth time it gets a bit old), but the individual dramas that unfolded from the penthouses to the gaming floor somehow are a bit flat and redundant, which is strange, since this part of the book should have been the most compelling.
Still and all what doesn't gel in the book isn't bad enough to detract from its other merits. Descriptions of the horrors aren't too graphic, for those of frailer sensibilities, although the stories about thefts and people continuing to play Keno and slots even as the place burned (!) really makes one disgusted with humanity, as does the behavior of the casino magnates involved who couldn't be bothered to pay for extensive sprinkler systems that would have made this tragedy next-to-impossible. Worst of all were those who opened bookmaking operations to gamble on the final tally of the dead. To quote the poet Charles Bukowski, "Humanity, you never had it."
R.I.P. to those who died, and a great debt is owed to first responders-firefighters, those from Nellis Air Base, and the nurses and doctors who worked double and triple shifts to save lives, as well as the other myriad and unsung heroes involved. Recommended.
Ironically, the parts of the book that should be most compelling, the fire and the human tragedy and the subsequent heroism, is less well-written and actually under-explored when compared to the postmortem describing how the fire happened and the political and economic fallout for the money men in Vegas when the s--- finally hit the fan.
It was a real life "Towering Inferno" as the authors repeatedly make clear ("it was like the 'Towering Inferno'" is a nice simile, but after the fourth or fifth time it gets a bit old), but the individual dramas that unfolded from the penthouses to the gaming floor somehow are a bit flat and redundant, which is strange, since this part of the book should have been the most compelling.
Still and all what doesn't gel in the book isn't bad enough to detract from its other merits. Descriptions of the horrors aren't too graphic, for those of frailer sensibilities, although the stories about thefts and people continuing to play Keno and slots even as the place burned (!) really makes one disgusted with humanity, as does the behavior of the casino magnates involved who couldn't be bothered to pay for extensive sprinkler systems that would have made this tragedy next-to-impossible. Worst of all were those who opened bookmaking operations to gamble on the final tally of the dead. To quote the poet Charles Bukowski, "Humanity, you never had it."
R.I.P. to those who died, and a great debt is owed to first responders-firefighters, those from Nellis Air Base, and the nurses and doctors who worked double and triple shifts to save lives, as well as the other myriad and unsung heroes involved. Recommended.
December 6, 2025
First let me say, if you love to travel and often stay in hotels where you enjoy the view from higher floors, read this book. This tragedy, shouldn’t have happened and resulting deaths helped bring about changes that protect today’s travelers. Hi-rise building like the MGM Grand were not subject to all the safety regulations that we take for granted today.
This book tells not only of the loss of lives, but of a city that came together to assist firemen, medical and other emergency personnel. In many cases these helpers were not trained, but ordinary citizens that saw a need and did whatever was needed. Hotels nearby opened their doors to help & feed workers and survivors. The convention center and attendees put aside their meetings and help set up evacuation areas, ordinary people brought clothing, they set up stations to aid the people who lost everything but their lives. As soon as word went out about the fire people began to find ways to help, whether it was aiding survivors, helping to set up aid stations to help people notify families, or helping find shelter or helping getting people to hospitals, even helping fire fighters and medical personnel. Blood banks were overrun with volunteers.
The results of this fire brought about many safety improvements that we enjoy in today’s hotels. The book also gives you good solid advice from experts of what to do if you find yourself in a terrible situation like this. The advice is something every traveler who stays in hotels would be smart to keep in mind.
This book tells not only of the loss of lives, but of a city that came together to assist firemen, medical and other emergency personnel. In many cases these helpers were not trained, but ordinary citizens that saw a need and did whatever was needed. Hotels nearby opened their doors to help & feed workers and survivors. The convention center and attendees put aside their meetings and help set up evacuation areas, ordinary people brought clothing, they set up stations to aid the people who lost everything but their lives. As soon as word went out about the fire people began to find ways to help, whether it was aiding survivors, helping to set up aid stations to help people notify families, or helping find shelter or helping getting people to hospitals, even helping fire fighters and medical personnel. Blood banks were overrun with volunteers.
The results of this fire brought about many safety improvements that we enjoy in today’s hotels. The book also gives you good solid advice from experts of what to do if you find yourself in a terrible situation like this. The advice is something every traveler who stays in hotels would be smart to keep in mind.
December 3, 2019
The previous reviewer states that this book was written by a group of beat newspaper reporters. This is only partly correct. Deirdre Coakley was a senior entertainment editor and Gary C Gerard was a cub reporter working the police beat. Hank Greenspun, on the other hand, was definitely not a beat reporter; he was the editor and publisher of what was one of the last remaining independently-owned newspapers in America. His name was listed because he was our boss, not because he contributed to any of the text. (I'm Gary C Gerard, by the way.)
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