The MGM Grand Hotel Disaster (1980)

On the 21st of November, 1980, a fire began on the first floor of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Firefighters were quickly in attendance, and through a co-ordinated effort were able to contain and then extinguish the flames before they could spread to rooms where guests were sleeping.


Only a relatively small part of the hotel actually burned… but a flaw in the design of the building meant that 85 guests – many of whom were staying on floors completely untouched by flame – lost their lives.