MASHANTUCKET, Conn. (AP) – Investigators have begun checking for the source of a roof fire at the Great Cedar Hotel at the Foxwoods Resort Casino that forced the evacuation of hundreds of guests.
Nobody was injured during the fire on the hotel roof, but a spokesman for Foxwoods said Jan. 30 that there was water damage on the two upper floors.
Foxwoods is owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe.
Guests who were evacuated and put up in other hotels were allowed to return to their rooms at Great Cedar Hotel to retrieve personal items, Foxwoods spokesman Saverio Mancini said.
Mancini said that the hotel would remain closed for a day or two but he said the casino on the ground floor was reopened Jan. 30.
Shortly before noon Jan. 29, a guard stationed on the street at a security post directly across from the hotel saw smoke and flames appear from the roof. The guard immediately reported the fire.
By early evening, the smoldering fire was extinguished and crews began peeling back the steel roof where authorities believe the fire started, Mancini said.
Mancini said the state fire marshal’s office and chief of the Mashantucket tribal fire department would be inspecting the fire damage to determine the cause of the blaze.
Officials evacuated the entire 312-room building. As a precaution, officials also evacuated the Great Cedar Casino, located on the ground floor of the hotel and one of Foxwoods’ six casinos.
Great Cedar is the Mashantuckets’ second hotel and second casino, but it was the first to house both a hotel and a casino in the same building.