LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Local radio legend Lark Williams was working as a keno runner at the MGM Grand Hotel on Nov. 21, 1980, when she witnessed one of the deadliest hotel fires in U.S. history.
I sat down with her as she remembered that historic day:
Williams, now a DJ at 97.1 The Point, was 21 years old and working in the deli area when she first noticed increased security activity. When she called the main pit to inquire, staff downplayed the situation.
"It may be a trash can fire or something, but security is on it. You don't worry yourself about that," Williams recalled being told. "So that was kind of interesting when not long after that it escalated into something, as we all know."
When Williams noticed smoke pushing through the MGM Grand Casino, panic set in quickly.
"It went just from 0 to we've got a real bad situation," Williams said. "And now you can't see because there's so much smoke very, very quickly."
Williams realized she had no idea where the emergency exits were located. She wasn't alone in this confusion. Hundreds of employees and guests pushed toward the only exit many of them knew — the front porte cochere.
Moments after Williams escaped into the parking lot, she watched the fire erupt behind her.
"Flames across the entire like a tsunami of flames burst all the glass out. I'm standing there still with my keno tray," Williams said. "With cocktail waitresses with their trays, and we're in total disbelief and silence, and there's all the flames, blasts going everywhere."
The MGM Grand fire killed 87 people, most from smoke inhalation, and injured more than 600 others. First responders were overwhelmed by the sheer number of victims.
"Because it became like a war zone, and paramedics who are trained for trauma," Williams said. "They were so traumatized by the amount of bodies that they were toe tagging and wheeling out just from the stairwells that they were overwhelmed."
The images from that morning remain haunting — flames and smoke, people hanging from the hotel on bed sheets. The investigation found the fire started from faulty wiring.
This deadly disaster forced sweeping changes that reshaped not only Las Vegas but the entire hotel industry. Sprinklers, automatic alarms, pressurized stairwells and mandatory employee fire exit training all became required after the MGM Grand fire.
"Out of disasters come rules and regulations to prevent future disasters, so you had fire safety codes," Williams said. "Being created, implemented, regulated, and highly enforced in Las Vegas very, very quickly."
Decades later, the MGM fire remains a moment in time Williams will never forget. However, she tries to focus not on the trauma but on the lives saved since the devastating fire.
"There is no safer place to this day, no hotels safer in the world to stay than here in Las Vegas and became the model for other cities and other hotels to follow," Williams said. "So it was no longer a suggestion codes. These are strict fire safety codes, including that employees have to know where the exits are. You probably remember you've worked at places. There's where you are and the nearest fire exits, so."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
