The Towering Inferno - Plot

Plot

Architect Doug Roberts returns to San Francisco for the dedication of the Glass Tower, which he designed for owner James Duncan. At 138 stories (1,800 ft/550 m), it is the world's tallest building.

An electrical short in the upper floors starts a small fire in a storage room on the 81st floor, which goes undetected. Roberts confronts the building's electrical engineer, Duncan's son-in-law Roger Simmons, accusing him of cutting corners and taking a kickback. Simmons insists the building is up to standards, but Roberts knows the standards are not enough and demands to see the electrical specifications and wiring diagrams.

During the dedication ceremony, with several dignitaries in attendance, public relations chief Dan Bigelow turns on the tower's exterior lights to impress them and the other 294 guests arriving for a party in the Promenade Room on the 135th floor. The lighting overloads the system and Roberts orders it shut off. The building's security guards see smoke from the fire on the 81st floor and summon the San Francisco Fire Department. Roberts and engineer Will Giddings head to the 81st floor. Giddings pushes a security guard to prevent him from opening the door to the burning room shortly before it explodes, severely burning himself. Roberts tells Duncan of the fire, who insists that the party continue, believing a fire on the 81st floor will not affect the party. Firemen begin fighting the fast-growing blaze unbeknownst to the party guests, using Roberts' office on the 79th floor as a command post and the lobby as a mass casualty and staging area. SFFD 5th Battalion Chief Michael O'Hallorhan takes charge and forces Duncan to evacuate the party guests. Everyone is directed to the express elevators. Party guest and building resident Lisolette Mueller, who was romanced at the party by con man Harlee Claiborne, is one of the first to leave. She heads to the 87th floor to check on a family with two children she babysits and their deaf mother. Simmons admits to Duncan that he changed Roberts' electrical specifications, but at Duncan's insistence to stay under budget. Simmons asks Duncan how he saved the rest of the money in the building budget.

Duncan is aided by Senator Parker and Mayor Ramsey in the evacuation. The fire then breaks through to the main elevator bay, rendering the express elevators unsafe. Duncan attempts to divert guests to the scenic elevators as an alternate escape route. However a panicked group of guests manage to get into one anyway. On the way down, it stops and opens directly into the fire the 81st floor, killing the occupants. The elevator then returns to the Promenade Room where the doors open and one man runs out engulfed in flames in view of the horrified guests. Claiborne smothers the fatally-burned man with his tuxedo jacket, but it is too late. Bigelow and his secretary/mistress Lorrie are trapped in his office by a second fire on the 65th floor and killed . Security Chief Harry Jernigan and Roberts are then informed from the building's security station that Lisolette has been seen on a security monitor trying to get into the apartment on 87; the two men head up to assist. Jernigan takes the mother down to safety. Roberts and Mueller save the two children, but are halted after part of the stairwell explodes due to a ruptured gas line. They head up to the Promenade Room via a service elevator, but upon their arrival the stairwell door is sealed by spilled cement. Roberts escapes through a pipe shaft to alert security. Two firemen rescue Lisolette and the children by blowing open the door with C-4. Suppression by the fire department becomes nearly impossible as the building loses all electrical power, halting an elevator that O'Hallorhan and his men are on, forcing them to rappel down the shaft.

A rooftop helicopter rescue attempt results in further disaster when two women rush the aircraft, causing it to crash and explode due to the heavy winds, setting the roof ablaze. Naval Rescue teams attach a breeches buoy to the adjacent 102-story Peerless Building and rescue a number of guests, including Duncan's daughter and Simmons' wife Patty. Roberts activates a gravity brake on the scenic elevator, enabling it to coast down to the lobby. Twelve people, including Roberts' girlfriend Susan, Mueller and the children, together with a supervising fireman and others enter the elevator. As it descends, an explosion rips the elevator off its track at the 110th floor, leaving it hanging by a cable. Mueller falls to her death before the others are saved by a helicopter rescue by O'Hallorhan. After all the women are evacuated in the breeches buoy, Simmons attempts to be the first man out. Duncan punches him in the gut, saying that everyone drew numbers and will all go when it's their turn, but that he will be the last man to leave, along with Simmons. However, as the fire reaches the Promenade Room, the remaining guests panic. Simmons forces his way onto the breeches buoy. Senator Parker tries to stop Simmons from getting on the buoy as it's not his turn. During the struggle, the buoy is taken out the window because of the combined weight of Senator Parker, Simmons, and two other men. Parker and another guest are pushed off of the buoy by Simmons to their deaths, but a few seconds later, an explosion destroys the rope holding the buoy, sending Simmons and the one other remaining guest still holding onto the buoy plummeting to their deaths.

A desperate plan is hatched by the top SFFD Fire Chiefs to explode the million-gallon water tanks at the top of the building above the remaining people in the Promenade Room to try and extinguish the fire raging below. A reluctant O'Hallorhan meets with Roberts and they set plastic C-4 to the six water tanks and the floors on the 138th floor, then return down to the Promenade Room. The remaining guests are ordered to tie themselves to heavy objects. O'Hallorhan, Roberts, Duncan, Claiborne and most of the party-goers survive as the tanks are blown, sending thousands of gallons of water through the ceiling and throughout the building, extinguishing the flames. The torrent sweeps away those not securely tied down, including Mayor Ramsey.

On the ground, Claiborne finds out through Jernigan that Mueller did not survive and is heartbroken, but is given her pet cat. Duncan consoles Patty over Simmons' death. Roberts says to Susan that he does not know what will become of the building, but perhaps it should be left alone as "a kind of shrine to all the bullshit in the world". O'Hallorhan says to Roberts that they were lucky tonight and that it could be much worse when fire safety is not taken into account. Roberts agrees to consult with O'Hallorhan in the near future. The fire chief drives away, exhausted.