Note the helicopters heading for the roof.
November 21, 1980: A fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, outside Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada. It kills 85 people, mostly through smoke inhalation: 7 employees, 78 guests.
The fire began at 7:07 AM, Pacific Time (10:07, U.S. Eastern), from a refrigerated pastry display case in one of the restaurants, located on the first floor. Fire engulfed the resort's casino, and smoke travelled into the hotel tower.
The hotel opened in 1973, and there were 5,000 people inside at the time of the fire. The fact that less than 2 percent of the people inside died is due in large part to the amount of support the Las Vegas Fire Department got, including helicopters from the nearby Nellis Air Force Base, which rescued over 1,000 people from the hotel's roof.
The tragedy remains the deadliest disaster in Nevada history, and the third-deadliest hotel fire in modern U.S. history, after the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta, which killed 119 people; and the 1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico; which killed 97. The incident led to the reformation of fire safety guidelines and codes in the State.
The MGM reopened in July 1981, and was sold in 1986 to Bally's, who renamed the hotel Bally's Las Vegas. A new MGM Grand opened in 1993, south of the original. In 2022, Bally's was renamed Horseshoe Las Vegas.
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November 21, 1980 was a Friday. This was also the night that the TV show Dallas revealed who shot J.R. Ewing. I have a separate entry for that event.
This was also the day that rock band REO Speedwagon released their album Hi Infidelity. It is their biggest album, and contains their 1st Number 1 hit, “Keep On Loving You,” and also their best-known song, "Take It On the Run." ("Heard it from a friend who... ")
Baseball was out of season. Football was played the next 2 days. There were 8 games played in the NBA that night:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Chicago Bulls, 130-121 at the Chicago Stadium. Ray Williams scored 36 points for the Knickerbockers, but it wasn't enough.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Houston Rockets, 116-108 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Moses Malone dropped 33 on the Nets.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers, 97-88 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Bullets beat the San Diego Clippers, 102-90 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Golden State Warriors, 108-106 at the Boston Garden.
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the expansion Dallas Mavericks, 101-91 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Kansas City Kings, 134-121 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns, 116-88 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
And there was 1 NHL game: The Buffalo Sabres beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.
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