Vegas hotel fire under control
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A fire broke out on the upper levels of a 3,000-room Las Vegas hotel this morning (Australian time) before being brought under control with no reports of injuries, officials said.
The fire erupted at the Monte Carlo hotel on the Las Vegas Strip shortly before 11:00am local time, sending thick black smoke and flames billowing from the roof fire officials said.
By 12:30 pm the fire had been brought under control, with flames and smoke largely extinguished, Clark County fire chief Steven Smith told reporters. The cause of the fire was not known.
"At this time there are no reports of injuries to guests, or workers or firefighters," Mr Smith said, discounting local media reports of people being trapped inside the building.
"That is incorrect ... we will do a thorough look through the building to make sure everyone is accounted for."
Earlier, flames could be seen spreading across the facade of two wings of the hotel as firefighters on the roof attempted to tackle the blaze. Mr Smith said the fire was largely on the exterior and had not penetrated hotel rooms.
"It was an exterior fire. There might have been a couple of rooms affected but it was mainly on the outside of the building."
Plumes of smoke could be seen for miles around, witnesses said.
The Monte Carlo, which sits on a sprawling 44-acre site, cost an estimated $US344 million to build and opened in 1996.
A fire at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in November 1980 left 87 people dead, and nearly 800 injured, the worst disaster in Nevada history.
-AFP
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