Word: las
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1980
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
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...
...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 of the tragedy: "This could have happened...
Some states (Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut) and some cities (Boston, Atlanta) have in recent years enacted relatively stringent fire codes. But nearly all, including Las Vegas, have grandfather clauses that exempt existing buildings or 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...
...refitting an old building can be twice as expensive as installing the same system in a new one, and owners are usually reluctant to do so voluntarily. Las Vegas fire department officials, for example, claim they have urged the MGM Grand Hotel and other hotels built be fore the 1979 building code to install sprinkler systems and smoke alarms, but to no avail. "Retrofitting of the older hotels has always been an economic tug of war," says Clark County Manager Bruce Spaulding. Perhaps now they will. Says Gordon Vickery, director of the U.S. Fire Administration: "We usually lose people...
...huge TV audience agree to play along? Ken Kercheval (J.R.'s luckless adversary Cliff Barnes) may have the answer: "The audience wants to know but they love not knowing." In the past few weeks newspapers have spread the latest Dallas trivia across their front pages. Las Vegas bookies have offered daily odds on the culprit (in the final line, Kristin was the favorite). Pundits have made merry speculating on the identity of the gunperson: Columnist Art Buchwald fingered David Brinkley because the scheduling of his NBC Magazine opposite J.R. had driven Brinkley to the bottom of the ratings...