Gamblers flee fire at Monte Carlo resort on Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS -- A fire on the roof of the Monte Carlo hotel-casino forced guests and gamblers to flee and sent a plume of smoke above the Las Vegas Strip before easing about an hour later, hotel officials said.

No injuries were reported and the fire was contained, Clark County fire chief Steve Smith said.

"As we go out of the danger zone, we'll methodically check each floor," he said. "No rooms are burning."

The fire, which was reported around 11 a.m., halted gambling at the casino as it spread from the center of the building across the roof. Fiery debris fell to the street below, and orange flames lapped at the casino's script sign.

Officials went door to door evacuating the 32-story hotel, said Gordon Absher, a spokesman for the resort's owner, MGM Mirage Inc.

Investigators were trying to determine whether the fire had simply burned the resort's facade or penetrated rooms in the upper floors, which contain suites. Guests were being taken the MGM Grand Garden Arena and employees were evacuated to the adjacent New York-New York hotel, Absher said.

There was no immediate indication of criminal activity or arson, Smith said. He called it an external fire but said heat and smoke set off alarms and sprinklers inside the building.

The facade was made of a foam building material that "melted off the side of the building and started a few fires below," Smith said.

Crowds formed to watch the fire, and traffic on the Strip was gridlocked as streets were blocked off around the hotel.

The nearby resorts Bellagio and New York New York were not evacuated.

The Monte Carlo Resort & Casino has 3,002 guest rooms and 211 suites. The resort, located on Las Vegas Boulevard, near Tropicana Avenue, opened in June 1996.

The casino-hotel modeled after the Place du Casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco, was a joint venture between Steve Wynn's Mirage Resorts and Circus Circus Enterprises.