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Fire erupts on Conn. hotel-casino roof

The Associated Press

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. — A roof fire forced the evacuation of hundreds of guests and gamblers from a hotel and casino at Foxwoods Resort Casino on Tuesday — the second such fire at a U.S. hotel-casino in less than a week.

The fire was reported around noon, and the roof of the eight-story Great Cedar Hotel was smoldering through mid-afternoon. No one was injured, said Saverio Mancini, a spokesman for the casino, which is run by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe.

Hotel staff evacuated the top three floors of the hotel, one of three at Foxwoods, then evacuated the entire 312-room building.

As a precaution, officials ordered people out of the adjacent Great Cedar Casino.

Mancini said the fire broke out between a mechanical equipment room near the roof and an exterior hall. Its cause, and extent of the damage, had not been determined.

Guests were being taken to a hospitality lounge.

The fire follows a Friday blaze at the 32-story Monte Carlo casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, in which foam building material lining the roof caught fire. The Monte Carlo was closed pending repairs.