By Sun Staff

Published Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008 | 9:23 a.m.

Updated Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | 2:14 p.m.

MGM Mirage has just released this statement, updating events in the wake of Friday's rooftop fire that sent thousands of guests and workers onto the street. Here it is:

Guests began retrieving their belongings from floors 3 through 26 of the Monte Carlo at approximately 8:00 PM last night. Guests from more than 2,000 rooms have been transported from their new hotels to the Monte Carlo, where they were escorted to gather their belongings and taken back to their hotels.

Retrieval operations ran smoothly and continued through the night and will continue through the day today. Guests from only approximately 250 rooms have yet to retrieve their belongings from the floors released by county inspectors last night. Guests on these floors can now come to the hotel at any time to retrieve their personal items.

The county safety inspectors have not yet released floors 27-32. Once they have done so, those guests will be able to come to the property to retrieve their belongings We anticipate that will happen in the next few hours and will communicate with those guests as we know more.

Throughout the night, we have made accommodations for guests on floors 27 through 32 to retrieve urgently needed items, such as keys, prescription medicines and passports.

Any belongings not claimed because guests were scheduled to leave town before they could retrieve them will be shipped overnight.

Guests are able to retrieve vehicles from valet parking at any time.

The property remains closed today. County inspectors and company executives continue their assessment of the building. The process of determining a schedule for re-opening the resort is underway.

Last night, MGM MIRAGE notified Monte Carlo employees that the company is committed to continue their pay and benefits for 30 days or until the resort re-opens, whichever period is shorter.

Despite the resort being closed, many employees are on site assisting guests and initiating clean-up and restoration of the resort. Employees should continue to call the Employee Hotline at 693-7005 for information about when they will need to report to work

The staff and management of Monte Carlo again wish to extend thanks and appreciation to the Clark County Fire Department and the thousands of people who contributed in this time of need. Your actions are a tribute to our entire community.