Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Nevada’s day of heroes

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2000 | 2:56 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

THIS WEEK will mark the 20th anniversary of the MGM Grand hotel fire that claimed 84 lives. Today that hotel is known as Bally's Las Vegas and the MGM Grand name adorns a newer and larger hotel on Tropicana Avenue.

"The Day The MGM Grand Hotel Burned" is a book published by Hank Greenspun, Gary C. Gerard, Deirdre Coakley and the Las Vegas Sun staff following that tragic event. Pictures and all, it's the best document of what happened and the effect it had on people and laws of the Silver State.

Fire survivors Virginia and Bob Apelgren, in a letter to the Palm Beach Post, told of how Clark County responded to this tragedy:

"If anyone ever tells you that the people who live in Las Vegas don't have heart, don't you believe it.

"We, as survivors of the MGM Grand Hotel fire, feel that residents of Las Vegas deserve monumental gratitude for their warm, kind and relentless assistance. The firemen, paramedics, doctors, nurses, construction workers, volunteers and many others were sensational. Residents brought food, blankets and clothing; donated blood; assisted victims by taking them into their homes, offering food, showers, clothing, lodging and love. Everywhere you turned, there was a loving hand. Free services were donated by taxicabs, school buses and drivers, and private vehicles, senior citizens, vans, etc., were available to any place in the city. Casinos, catering services and residents brought food. Stores as well as residents donated clothing.

"The Red Cross and Salvation Army set up immediate quarters. Doctors, medical personnel and volunteers in hospitals worked around the clock. Airlines, especially Delta, worked at full capacity to reschedule tickets and arrange transportation to the airport.

"Many, many other kind acts and deeds were done.

"May God bless the fine people in Las Vegas."

This was a day of heroes, which included medics, helicopter pilots, security guards, firefighters, Air Force personnel, hotel employees and construction workers. Metro Police Sgt. Harry Christopher made the first 20 trips to the top of the hotel where he rescued survivors. Soon he was joined by Ray Poss of Silver State Helicopters, Flight for Life and the CH-3s, Jolly Green Giants, dispatched from Nellis Air Force Base.

Hundreds of visitors owed their lives to men of Ironworkers Local 433. They were just coming to work that morning and were on their way up to the scaffolding on the 26th floor of the hotel's new construction site when the smoke poured through the hotel. Stories of the heroism of the ironworkers spread throughout the hospitals, care centers, and into the streets.

Who were these men? The Sun's Jeff German followed up on this story and put names together with the faces under the hardhats. Chris November, Jerry Hoskin, Hubert Edwards, Rusty Moore, Jerry Doyle, Pat Gallegos, Ben Gallegos, William Armstrong, Fred Kiely and Ashley Moore were interviewed and the Sun ran a picture of all 70 ironworkers on the job.

Pat Gallegos recalled, "We got to the 16th floor and no one had been there yet. So (we) felt the door for heat. It was cool so we broke the door in and smoke poured out of the hallway. ... We could hear people coughing and yelling for help. We knocked on doors and showed people to stairwells. Some were in shock. Some were dead.

"From the 18th and 19th floors and up, it got worse. We could barely breathe. We had to break into nearly every room. There were a lot of elderly people on those floors who were having trouble breathing. Most of those people were suffering from smoke inhalation. They were weak and scared.

"My arms and legs were hurting like hell from carrying people, but I couldn't stop."

Years of hard and dangerous work had prepared the ironworkers to be angels of mercy when tragedy struck Las Vegas 20 years ago. Jerry Hoskin summed it up when telling German, "They instinctively did not panic and carried out their acts of heroism without regard for their own personal safety."