The Associated Press

Wed, Jan 30, 2008 (6:25 a.m.)

A roof fire forced hundreds of guests and gamblers to evacuate a hotel and casino Tuesday, the second such blaze at a U.S. hotel-casino in less than a week.

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

The fire was out by early evening, and crews began peeling back the steel roof where authorities believe it started, Mancini said.

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 Great Cedar Casino, on the hotel's ground floor.

The fire broke out between a mechanical equipment room near the roof and an exterior hall, Mancini said.

Foxwoods officials were not speculating about the cause, tribal spokesman Arthur Henick said. Tribal and state fire officials were investigating.

More than 50 firefighters from the tribe and nearby towns responded. More than 280 guests were given complimentary rooms at other Foxwoods hotels, as well as at a hotel in nearby North Stonington.

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 until repairs could be made.