We now know what caused Friday's fire at the Monte Carlo. It was welders working on the roof. Fire officials say they did not take proper precautions and did not have the right permit.

Fire investigators say it was flying molten metal from a hand held cutting torch. Investigators went on to say workers on the roof were cutting steel used for a walkway on the inside of a roof wall.

It's in an area on the left side of the elevator shafts at the center of the building. The point of origin for the fire was highlighted in our video from the day of the fire last Friday. The Clark County Fire Chief says that this could have been prevented.

The chief says the proper mats to catch the molten material were not used. In addition, the contractor did not have the proper “hot permit” to be welding on the roof.

The fire department is considering citing the company, Union Erectors LLC. By law, the citation carries a $1,000 fine and possibly six months in jail.

When the fire started, the workers tried to use a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, but it already spread to the outer wall. Everyone was evacuated safely. The Monte Carlo has been closed for almost a week because of the fire.

MGM says thousands of guests have now been rebooked. They are re-booking guests through the end of next Friday at other casino properties.

“We have relocated more than 100 meeting groups and convention groups planning to do their business at the Monte Carlo. We have housed them at other resorts,” said Gordon Absher, MGM-Mirage spokesman.

Almost all of them have been sent to other MGM properties but a couple had to be sent to outside casino companies due to space. MGM has not given a total damage cost, but industry experts say it could be tens of millions.

MGM released the following statement Thursday afternoon, saying the county's investigation identified welding as the cause of the fire. It goes on to say the maintenance of the paperwork did not meet company standards. That means the hot permit should have been in MGM records and was not.

The company is reviewing policies that let the welding go forward anyway. Inside, more workers prepare the rooms for guests.

As for rebuilding, they're 25-percent finished putting up glass rock, which are big sheets that will be the foundation for the new exterior of the building. There's going to be a total of 450 glass rock sheets.

There is also a change to the resorts web page. The reservation area has been removed and the front page has two new links.

One goes to a message from the president of the Monte Carlo to employees, asking them to call the hotline to see if they need to report to work. The second message is to guests apologizing for the inconvenience.

The letter says everyone was evacuated from the hotel safely and directs customers to another hotline number.

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded the underlying rating on $445.8 million in bonds being serviced by the Las Vegas Monorail Co. further into junk territory, saying it expects a payment default in 2010 as cash reserves run out.

Moody's cut the underlying rating on the monorail's first-tier debt by two notches from B3 to Caa2, which is only three levels above the agency's worst rating, C. The bonds themselves are rated Aaa because they are insured by Ambac Financial Group Inc.

“Their revenues are far from where we had anticipated them to be,” said Moody's vice president and senior credit officer, Denise Person.

The ratings agency said “dramatic revenue growth is needed” for the company operating the $650-million, 3.9-mile link along the Las Vegas Strip to avoid a default in 2010.

In early January, Wells Fargo bank tapped $1.6 million from a reserve fund the monorail had to service its first-tier debt, and $762,896 from a second reserve fund for the second-tier debt.

The first-tier reserve fund has $40.4 million left and the second has $13.5 million left, Moody's said.

Based on a 2008 budget estimate the monorail released in November, the funds will only be sufficient to make the twice-yearly payments in January and July through 2009, Moody's said.

The forecast presumes that the monorail will fall short of its debt payment obligations by more than $20 million per year.

“But they're way off forecasts,” Person said. “If ridership numbers are actually lower, then they could default sooner, they could default in 2009.”

The monorail said in a statement the ratings cut was anticipated.

“Ridership and revenue has improved as a result of promotional and sales programs,” said monorail vice president Ingrid Reisman.

In 2007, the company reported 7.9 million riders, or about 21,640 a day, up about 900,000 from the previous year. When it began service in 2004, the monorail projected more than 54,000 riders a day.

Reisman said the company would forge ahead with efforts to boost ticket sales and expand the monorail to McCarran International Airport, a plan the company has said is linked to refinancing its debt.

Moody's analyst Bart Oosterveld said such a refinancing would take several months at best.

“It's our experience, frankly, that financings don't come together overnight,” he said, adding “credit markets are choppy currently.”
   
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Investigators are working to pinpoint the cause of the Monte Carlo casino fire. On Monday, Eyewitness News learned where it may have started.

As the investigation and clean up continues, MGM-Mirage is working to re-locate guests and conventions.  The damage could potentially be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The first pictures of the fire on top of the Monte Carlo were the break investigators needed to pinpoint where the fire started. The video was taken by Eyewitness News' camera on top of the Rio Hotel and Casino.

SLIDESHOW: Fire Rages at Monte Carlo

An ATF fire investigator visited Channel 8 studios to review the tape. Another angle from the ground confirmed his suspicions. The fire made a “V” form on the side of the Monte Carlo.The investigator says that “V” indicates the point of origin above — the same spot seen from the Rio camera angle.

There is still no official cause on what sparked the spectacular fire but there were welders on the roof when it started.

The fire burned for more than an hour and when it was finally knocked down, the damage was between floors 27 and 32.

BLOG: Monte Carlo's on Fire — Did You See It?

“At this point, we feel it's habitual from the casino up to the 26th floor with one exception,” said Ron Lynn, Clark County building official.

He says his department will sign off to allow guests inside after the charred parts are removed or secured. That way, nothing will potentially fall off the building and hit anyone in the ground.

MGM-Mirage spokesman Gordon Absher says the Monte Carlo will not open until it's an attractive, safe resort. “We are now in there checking every room. The water is causing us some problems, because it is a moving target,” he said.

Absher says the goal is to open by Super Bowl weekend.

“Sure it would be great, but we are going to not make that a determining factor as much as safety,” said Absher.

While repairs are underway, people with reservations have been placed at other MGM properties.

Work crews could not start the repairs Monday because the wind was too dangerous. All of the necessary equipment is on the roof.

Work is being done inside to repair the rooms with water and smoke damage. There is still less than 100 people with belongings inside. They left town. MGM is sending a FedEx letter to make arrangements to return the belongings.

Tourists stared up in the sky as fire raged on the roof of the Monte Carlo Hotel on the Strip. Flames danced and black smoke billowed from the 3,000 room resort. Hotel maids on the top floors ran from door to door telling guests to get out.

SLIDESHOW: See Photos of the Monte Carlo Fire

Most of the hotel guests Eyewitness News talked with say they heard a fire alarm going off inside the Monte Carlo but ignored it. It wasn't until they got a knock on their door or turned on the televison that they realized they needed to get out.

PHOTOS: Send Us Your Pictures of the Fire

“High rise fires are never easy to fight and as you can with it being outside, our firefighters actually had to hang out the windows, try to cut the fire off, directing our fire streams at an angle so to make contact with the fire so it wasn't an easy fire at all,” said Fire Chief Steve Smith.

The fire started around 11 a.m. at the Las Vegas Strip hotel which is near Tropicana. The fire, which was burning along the top floor, sent black plumes of smoke into the sky.

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The hotel was at 97-percent occupancy. Any guest scheduled to stay at the hotel Friday night is being asked to report to the MGM Grand Garden.

Clark County Fire Department is reporting there are no known injuries and that the fire which occurred at the top of the west and south wings was contained to the exterior of the building.

It took close to one hour for crews to get the fire under control. What caused the top four floors to burst into flames of this hotel and casino is still a mystery, but thankfully no one reported any major injuries. Hotel guests were notified in time.

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“The largest hotels in the world are along this resort corridor. To say that you practice a fire, you don't really practice a fire except for when it happens, you have the training, you understand what you have to do to contain it and that is what we have done today,” said Chief Smith.

MGM Mirage Sr. Vice President Releases Statement on Fire

A former worker tells Eyewitness News that the top floor of the hotel contains suites. There are also reports that welders were working on the roof of the hotel but the cause of the fire is not officially determined yet.

Five guests and eight engineers suffered from smoke inhalation. But most every other hotel guest are all right — just waiting for the okay to go back in and collect their belongings.

Employee Hotline (to find out if they go to work tomorrow): 693-7005

Guest Hotline (to find out more information): 891-4411

ROAD CLOSURES: Monte Carlo is closed to traffic between Las Vegas Blvd. and Frank Sinatra. Employees of strip properties should have I.D. to pass any road blocks.

The MGM Mirage owns the hotel/casino. The 32-story Monte Carlo is a 3,000 room resort which opened in 1996.

Other Las Vegas Hotel Fires:

1980 - The MGM Grand Hotel burns and kills 87 people who were in hotel rooms and the casino. That deadly fire resulted in tougher fire codes for hotels. It inspires new laws to be adopted in 1981.

1981 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton kills eight people. The arson fire was started by a worker.

1998 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton causes $1 million in damage but no deaths.

A Goldman Sachs investment fund came closer to putting a $1.3 billion bet on the Las Vegas Strip, as it was approved Thursday to buy the iconic 1,149-foot-tall Stratosphere tower and casino-hotel, a mid-market property that caters to budget travelers.

Managing director Jonathan Langer of Goldman Sachs & Co. told members of the Nevada Gaming Commission that the investment giant believed high-end developments on the north end of the Strip could leave some tourists out in the cold.

“We feel that the middle-class customer, which we feel is the biggest piece of the demographic pie in terms of who's coming here, is potentially being priced out of the Las Vegas Strip,” Langer
said. “We feel this presents an opportunity for the Stratosphere to take advantage and cater specifically to that customer.”

The purchase, announced last April, includes two local Arizona Charlie's casinos and the Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin, Nev., as well as a 17-acre parcel attached to the Stratosphere. They were previously owned by billionaire Carl Icahn's American Real Estate Partners LP.

The gaming commission voted unanimously to approve the deal.

Langer said the fund was preparing to immediately spend $54 million to upgrade the properties, including a $25 million transformation of unfinished retail space at the Stratosphere into meeting space, $10 million to change a bingo hall at Arizona Charlie's Decatur into meeting space and a $19 million room renovation at Aquarius.

He said the fund was “still evaluating our options” regarding the 17-acre parcel, and added the Whitehall 2007 fund had $5 billion in committed equity to fund possible expansions.

Goldman Sachs said it was taking on $1.2 billion in debt and adding more than $200 million in equity to the deal after all was said and done.

Commission chair Peter Bernhard called the deal “highly leveraged,” but approved it, saying he was comfortable with the fund's plans.

“It's a big investment and it's not without risk,” he said. “But it's your money.”

Langer and two other Goldman Sachs executives were approved in Nevada as casino owners in 1996 for a 40 percent stake in the Las Vegas Hilton casino-hotel. The group also took a passive, minority stake in the $5.4 billion going-private deal of Station Casinos Inc. with Colony Capital LLC, which closed in November.

The latest deal is just one in a wave of private equity investments in the casino industry, which is rich with steady cash flows and appreciating real estate. Another major deal set to close this month is the $17.1 billion purchase of Harrah's Entertainment Inc. by private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management.

“We're bullish on the gaming sector,” Langer said. “We also view Las Vegas as a great long-term bet on the U.S. economy.”

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

McCarran International Airport isn't just a hub for transportation, it's also the center of great business opportunities. Now, officials there are working to expand those opportunities, and they are targeting a very specific group of entrepreneurs.

Alejandro Alvarez is a successful business man. For more than 10 years, he's owned a Tex Mex restaurant. Last year, he opened a deli next door, and he's done it all inside McCarran International Airport.

“It's a unique opportunity because I have a business right in the center of the airport, which is the center of the city really, an incredible blessing, certainly,” he said.

In 1994, Alvarez took advantage of an opportunity offered by McCarran International Airport. A space inside one of the terminals is allocated exclusively for women and minority small business owners. It's the same opportunity McCarran is offering now.

Chris Jones, a McCarran spokesperson said, “We are a very large airport. Forty seven million passengers coming through here per year, so we still have a focus on two things — being reflective of the community around us and also giving small businesses opportunities to come in and do well in an airport environment.

Wednesday morning, airport officials explained to more than 100 people the details of the plan. Over the next year there will be 10 vacancies. They are all reserved for women and minority owned small businesses.

But there are no shortcuts. Each business owner must meet federal requirements, be competitive, and submit all of the proper paperwork.

“They need to be able to offer their own business plan. They need to be able to stand alone, have their own financial backing, have their own ability to succeed,” said Jones.

Jones says it's often difficult for smaller businesses to compete with large companies that have extensive financial backing. This opportunity levels the playing field for small business owners — like Alejandro Alvarez.

McCarran International Airport isn't just a hub for transportation, it's also the center of great business opportunities. Now, officials there are working to expand those opportunities, and they are targeting a very specific group of entrepreneurs.

Alejandro Alvarez is a successful business man. For more than 10 years, he's owned a Tex Mex restaurant. Last year, he opened a deli next door, and he's done it all inside McCarran International Airport.

“It's a unique opportunity because I have a business right in the center of the airport, which is the center of the city really, an incredible blessing, certainly,” he said.

In 1994, Alvarez took advantage of an opportunity offered by McCarran International Airport. A space inside one of the terminals is allocated exclusively for women and minority small business owners. It's the same opportunity McCarran is offering now.

Chris Jones, a McCarran spokesperson said, “We are a very large airport. Forty seven million passengers coming through here per year, so we still have a focus on two things — being reflective of the community around us and also giving small businesses opportunities to come in and do well in an airport environment.

Wednesday morning, airport officials explained to more than 100 people the details of the plan. Over the next year there will be 10 vacancies. They are all reserved for women and minority owned small businesses.

But there are no shortcuts. Each business owner must meet federal requirements, be competitive, and submit all of the proper paperwork.

“They need to be able to offer their own business plan. They need to be able to stand alone, have their own financial backing, have their own ability to succeed,” said Jones.

Jones says it's often difficult for smaller businesses to compete with large companies that have extensive financial backing. This opportunity levels the playing field for small business owners — like Alejandro Alvarez.

The future of technology is invading Las Vegas Monday morning. The Consumer Electronics Show takes over the Las Vegas Convention Center for the next four days.

SLIDESHOW: Consumer Electronics Show Hits Las Vegas

The show fills all two million square feet at the convention center and will showcase the newest and coolest technology and electronics from around the world.

Did you take photos at CES? Share them with us! Simply upload your files.

Organizers are expecting a big turnout this year – 140,000 people and 20,000 new products. Brands like LG, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, American Airlines and General Motors will all be showing and buying many of these products will be household items within a few years.

“From digital entertainment, gaming to the home theater, technology is all pervasive and so the various aspects of our exhibitors and what they have to show are gonna bring all the latest products to consumers this year,” said Tara Dunion of the Consumer Electronic Association.

None of the products are available to buy Monday but some will actually be in stores later this week. The CES show is not open to the public but rest assured, you'll be able to buy most of the top technology by the end of the year.

For more information on the show, click here.

The season has changed at the Bellagio Conservatory and Eyewitness News was there when it happened.

Within a week, the scene was changed from a Christmas to a Chinese New Year theme.

More than 150 people helped reset the mood at the conservatory. Even though there are several changes throughout the year — it doesn't always go as planned.

“We decided this year we want to build some rockscape up 25 feet in the air, so our rockscape steel structure is stuck in Arizona because of the weather,” Executive Director of Horticulture Audra Danzk.

Designers also brought in a feng shui expert to make sure everything is culturally correct. The display will run through march.

Las Vegas visitors and high rollers now have a glitzy new resort geared towards luxury, high end shopping and fine dining.

A flip of the switch and a show of fireworks marked the official opening of the Palazzo — the $1.9 billion property adjoining the similarly Italian themed Venetian.

SLIDESHOW: Palazzo Grand Opening

But analysts say if you look beyond the lights, glitz and glamour of the ceremony, you'll find the promise of more jobs and a boom to the Las Vegas economy.

“It means more wages and more activity within the economy — in terms of being able to get more visitors in here,” said Jeremy Aguero with Applied Analysis.

With its 3,000 plus hotel suites, high end stores and celebrity chef restaurants, the Palazzo is being called a major player in the changing face of the Las Vegas Strip.

The Palazzo is the first new casino to open on the Strip in three years. The timing couldn't be better.

It opens as Americans think twice about the high cost of traveling overseas. Foreign exchange rates for tourists from Asia and Europe are making travel to destinations like Las Vegas a sure bet.

“What the Palazzo means overall, is sort of the leading edge of the biggest wave of hotel/casino development we've seen in this community ever — in terms of the number of rooms coming online, to say nothing of the economic investment,” adds Aguero.

The celebration continues this weekend, culminating in concert performances by Seal and the legendary Diana Ross.

Email your comments to Reporter Carol Wilkinson