On the morning of November, 21 1980, at approximately 7:17 AM, a fire broke out in a delicatessen at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, a 26-story resort with over 2,000 hotel rooms. About 5,000 people were in the hotel and casino at the time of the fire.

Smoke and fire spread through the building. 84 people were killed and 679 injured, including tourists and employees. Most fire damage occurred in the namesake casino on the second floor and its adjacent restaurants, although most deaths occurred from smoke inhalation in the upper rooms of the hotel. If firefighters had not extinguished the blaze when they did, the building probably would have been burned to the ground. As it was, the fire was considered to have been the second worst hotel fire in U.S history.

According to the official report by the Clark County, Nevada Fire Department, the cause of the fire was due to an improperly grounded electrical wire. The fire smoldered for hours before breaking out, and then it flashed through the casino area. Only a minor fraction of the hotel had been outfitted with a sprinkler system; this was not legally required for buildings built before 1979, and the MGM Grand had opened in 1973. Guests only learned of the fire upon actually seeing smoke or hearing other guests warn them; the hotel's alarm system was destroyed before fire alarms could activate. Eventually $223 million in legal settlements were paid in connection with the disaster.

The MGM Grand was repaired and then sold to Bally's Entertainment (now Caesars Entertainment), who changed the hotel's name to "Bally's Las Vegas". Afterwards, the present MGM Grand hotel was built across the street from Bally's.

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