Massive fire hits Monte Carlo hotel-casino high-rise

• Officials: Monte Carlo likely started by cutting torch
• Foam used along rooftop deemed safe for high places

LAS VEGAS -- The fire-damaged Monte Carlo hotel-casino remained closed to guests Saturday while inspectors checked the 32-story building for damage following the blaze that blackened the facade of the top floors.

Ron Lynn, chief of the Clark County Building Department, said he did not know when he would permit the 3,000-room hotel to reopen.

"It's a little soon to tell," Lynn told The Associated Press moments before he and a team of six inspectors entered the building Saturday morning. "We haven't completed the testing today. But there is no damage to the casino area."

The hotel on the Las Vegas Strip was filled nearly to capacity Friday when passing motorists reported seeing flames on the roof. No one was seriously injured.

Casino owner MGM Mirage Inc. found rooms for displaced guests at its other hotel-casinos.

Most guests were allowed inside with security escorts during the night to retrieve belongings left behind when they fled, officials said.

However, only hotel security and county inspectors were being allowed into rooms above the 26th floor, company spokesman Gordon Absher said.