LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Monday, the Las Vegas community remembers one of the worst tragedies in Las Vegas history.
Forty-two years ago, fire and suffocating smoke raced through the MGM Grand Hotel, killing 87 people and injuring more than 600.
The fire began in a floor-level restaurant and spread up through the hotel tower.
Jerry Bendorf served his first year as Clark County fire captain when it happened.
"The further away we got from the fire, the more casualties there was. It got to the point that, on top, you couldn't see anything. You would knock down doors and get people to the stairwells and then let them go down on their own. The firemen, they took their mask off and they would put it on the people as they help them," Bendorf said. "It's terrible to have that many people pass away from it, but some good things did come of it, as far as fire code, sprinkler systems."
Following the fire, new safety standards were implemented not just at high-rise buildings in Las Vegas, but in buildings nationwide.
