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.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 9:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.