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Air Force Rescue at the MGM Hotel Fire in Las Vegas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

David M. Wallace
David M. Wallace
Affiliation:
Public Affairs Division, Tactical Fighter Weapons Center, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada 89191, USA.
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Extract

One of the worst hotel fires in the USA occurred at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 21, 1980. This tragedy claimed 84 lives and injured 300 others. The toll might have been higher were it not for Air Force assistance.

Nine U.S. Air Force helicopters responded swiftly to the scene in answer to the city of Las Vegas plea for help. The call came from the Metropolitan Police Department at 7:38 a.m. and got an immediate response from the Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) Consolidated Command Post. By 7:55 a.m., the first Huey helicopter was airborne. Less than 20 minutes later it was hovering over the MGM Grand Hotel. Evacuation of survivors began immediately, according to Major Larry B. Doege, commander of Detachment 1, 57th Fighter Weapons Wing.

Type
Section Four—Air Rescue
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 1 , Issue 1: Military and Disaster Medicine , Spring 1985 , pp. 58 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1985

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