Untold Stories: MGM Grand Fire
Join us on Thursday, November 6th for:
"Untold Stories: A Look Back at the MGM Grand Fire"
When the original MGM Grand Hotel opened in 1973, it was the most lavish hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Every facet of the hotel oozed with class from its casino that was the size of three football fields, to its MGM themed high-end gourmet restaurants such as Gigi's, Barrymores and Tracey's. Chandliers were everywhere. The shopping area, located downstairs from the main casino floor, was filled with high-end stores and at the end, a movie theater that played classic studio era MGM films. It was a hotel to remember.
But in 1980, an early morning fire changed forever the way we remember that beautiful hotel.
It was the deadlist hotel fire in Nevada history and the second deadlist in American history. We will look back at the events that caused the fire, the heroism and cooperation that helped saved thousands of lives and the legacy of the fire.
Panelists include:
Las Vegas Sun reporter, Mary Manning
KLAS-Channel 8 anchor, Gary Waddell
MGM employee Jose Alvarez
MGM baker, Don Feldman
and Clark County Fire Chief, Steve Smith, who as a rookie was one of the first to respond to the fire.
This should be a tremendous evening of history and stories so please join us at:
The Las Vegas Springs Preserve
Desert Learning Center
7:00 pm
Admission is $12
LasVegasLynn
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Reader Comments (1)
in the Hotel? I could not use the Watts line to call the Fire Department. I of course was
questioned by 12 attornies who argued that we had no alarms on the third floor. I worked there and can say, Yes we did. Why were exit doors chained shut? I still can smell the smoke to this day. I can still see the faces cut of guests from fallen glass. I can still tell you how many coworkers I lost that morning and where there bodies were found. I do know there were a lot of bad choices made,
from previous fire inspections. Who is to blame
I will never know. I just watched several shows about the fire and really hope that the men who signed my checks every 2 weeks would
never not upgrade due to endangering any Hotel guests. Sometimes I feel like I still work there and have to defend them.The show I just watched even credited Bally's for having the safest hotel. MGM put in the JC80 in 1983 or 84, not Bally's. MGM took great care and costs to protect their inhouse guests and employees. Thank You for allowing me to vent. I am sure not many people would understand unless you worked there.