Word: mgm
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...MGM Grand Hotel disaster kindles nationwide concerns...
Such was the scene last week at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, where an early morning fire a few days earlier had killed 84 people and injured more than 700. Though the costs of the damage to the 26-story hotel have not yet been figured, MGM officials do not expect to reopen the building until July. As MGM was hit with the first of a potential flood of lawsuits, a $250 million claim from a group of Mexican tourists who lost 15 of their number, a few answers were beginning to emerge...
Though fire officials claimed to have found at least one serious fire violation in the hotel-holes had inexplicably been cut in the fire walls near the catwalk, possibly helping the fire spread-the MGM Grand apparently met all other fire regulations. The county building code passed in 1979 required new hotels in Las Vegas to install sprinklers and smoke detectors on every floor, but the MGM Grand, built in 1973, was exempt. The hotel had sprinklers only on the basement, first and top floors. There were no smoke detectors. Said MGM Grand Hotels Board Chairman Fred Benninger...
...require only minor improvements. Miami Beach, for example, adopted a tough code in 1976 but only requires its existing hotels to install, among other measures, manual fire alarms and emergency doors. A team of Miami Beach fire officials is going to Las Vegas to see what lessons the MGM Grand Hotel case holds for their city. Admits Assistant Fire Chief Braniard Dorris: "The potential [for a similar fire in Miami Beach] is there...
Even as the fire still smoldered, troubling questions were being raised about the tragedy. Built in 1973 at a cost of $106 million, the MGM Grand met the require ments of the county building code in effect at the time by installing sprinkler systems only in the basement and on the first and top floors. There were no smoke detectors in the guest rooms. A new code requiring sprinklers on every floor and the use of smoke detectors was passed...