A fire broke out Friday 2-25-08 on the roof of the Monte Carlo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip and quickly spread, engulfing the resort’s top floors. Luckily no injuries are being reported.

Flaming embers fell to the street below.

The three-alarm fire, which began just before 11 a.m., was spreading from the center section of the hotel across the roof line. Flames and plumes of black smoke could be seen on what appeared to a west-facing rooftop of the resort.

“The building is being evacuated,” said Gordon Absher, spokesman for the hotel owner, MGM Mirage Inc. He said he had no immediate information whether anyone was hurt in the fire.

It is being reported that welders were working on the roof at the time of the fire.

The Monte Carlo Resort & Casino has more than 3,000 guest rooms and opened in June 1996.

The 32-story casino-hotel modeled after the Place du Casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco, was a joint venture between Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts and Circus Circus Enterprises.

The 3,000-suite Palazzo will feature design reminiscent of affluent Italian living, with restaurants by celebrity chefs, including CUT by Wolfgang Puck, Table 10 by Emeril Lagasse, CarneVino by Mario Batali and Restaurant Charlie by Charlie Trotter—as well as entertainment in the form of Broadway’s “Jersey Boys” musical and Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club. The Shoppes at The Palazzo will comprise 60 high-end and mid-level stores, including Las Vegas’ first-ever Barneys New York and the largest Canyon Ranch SpaClub to date.

Diana Ross will be the star performer at Legends and Luminaries, a special concert series to celebrate the grand opening of the new Palazzo Resort Hotel and Casino. This event, hosted by Wayne Brady, will also feature performances by Andy Garcia + The Cineson All Stars, the Las Vegas cast of the “Jersey Boys”,  Seal and several other guests.  The after party will be held at TA.

See More on the Palazzo here Palazzo Las Vegas

This industry tradeshow, open to participants in the CE industry, runs January 7-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and Sands Expo and Convention Center/The Venetian.

In CE product terms the event has been dominated by a return of the size wars. A number of leading manufacturers are exhibiting new TV sets that are all defined with the superlative. Appropriately enough, in a town as outlandish as Las Vegas, there is no such thing as average here: all of the major announcements seem to be the “biggest”.

Amid the noise of innovation and celebration you can detect a note of caution. The Consumer Electronics Association is projecting growth of some six per cent in the sector in 2008, yet there seems to be some general worries that the effects of the credit crunch will be felt in consumer spending patterns on electronics.

This is Vegas though, and optimism is the order of the day.

CES organizers said the show would be back next year but said they were planning to pursue new, less expensive arrangements.