NO MAJOR INJURIES IN MONTE CARLO FIRE

Via The Las Vegas Review Journal:

Columns of black smoke loomed over the Strip on Friday as flames burned atop the Monte Carlo, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and stirring memories of Las Vegas' darkest day.

The fire started just before 11 a.m. on the upper reaches of the 32-story hotel. Fueled by highly flammable construction foam, the flames quickly spread along the building's facade while firefighters standing on the roof and hanging out hotel room windows attacked them with water.

"It started with a little smoke, and I thought it was, like, kitchen smoke," said Angel Hernandez, who works at a nearby kiosk on the Strip. "The next thing I saw was the black smoke and I went, 'That's not the kitchen.' "

The plumes of smoke soon attracted hundreds of onlookers, who craned their necks and snapped pictures with camera phones from the crowded sidewalks on Las Vegas Boulevard. Meanwhile, news helicopters swirled overhead, capturing live footage of the growing conflagration that conjured images of the deadly MGM Grand fire in 1980 that killed 87 people.

To read the rest of the story, click HERE.