LATEST JAN. 5: Power has been fully restored to Rio hotel-casino, 8 days after an electrical fire.
Clark County Fire Department and county officials cleared the final rooms on floors 22-39 for guest occupancy. Power has been fully restored to the entire tower and hotel staff is now cleaning the additional 500 rooms for guest arrivals.
Hotel reservations at Rio All-Suite Resort & Casino will be accommodated at the resort moving forward. VooDoo Nightclub & Lounge will reopen Thursday night while VooDoo Steak is expected to welcome guests Friday night. The third party company that operates VooDoo Zipline will also receive access to operations immediately.
UPDATE JAN. 3: This afternoon Clark County Fire Department and county officials cleared floors 8-21 for guest occupancy in the Rio's Masquerade Tower.
According to a statement from Caesars Entertainment, staff members are currently servicing the 380 rooms and preparing them for guests to stay. This update comes after floors 4-7 were cleared by officials on Friday.
All gaming operations and restaurants on the main level continue to remain open at the property and have not been affected by the power outage.
Testing will continue on all remaining floors in the Masquerade Tower, which include approximately 500 guest rooms on floors 22-39, Voodoo Steak, Voodoo Rooftop Nightclub & Lounge and Voodoo Zipline. Caesars Entertainment says it is unable at this time to estimate when power will be restored to these floors.
Guests checking in are being accommodated at the Rio All-Suite Resort & Casino or will be redirected to another Caesars property prior to guest arrival. The hotline is still open and guests are encouraged to call 866-635-6995 with any questions or concerns.
UPDATE DEC. 31: After working all day, Caesars Entertainment leaders say they got the all-clear to reopen four floors of the Rio's Masquerade tower.
Crews are reportedly preparing 120 rooms for guests to stay in, but say the remainder of the 900 rooms in the tower will not be available for those in town for New Year's.
They plan to re-evaluate the electrical system on Monday.
Caesars Entertainment says all of the displaced guests have been placed in other accommodations around town.
VooDoo Steak , VooDoo Rooftop Nightclub & Lounge and VooDoo Zipline will also be shut down through the weekend due to the power issues.
Guests with reservations are reportedly being contacted with alternate options for the holiday celebration.
UPDATE DEC. 30: Officials are testing the electrical system today. If it works, they'll be able to reopen up to the 20th floor. They were able to relocate everyone to other Caesars properties Thursday night.
UPDATE DEC. 29: Guests were moved to other properties as a result of loss of power.
Investigators say the loss of power may have been caused by an accidental water issue. A sink in a service area overflowed, which hit an electrical conduit and shorted the fuse to the main power source. Water from the sprinkler system got into another conduit, which impacted the backup generator.
The power was out throughout Thursday and may be back on Friday. Caesars Entertainment does not expect the outage to affect New Year's Eve festivities.
Another fire was reported at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at the Rio hotel-casino. Upon arrival, the fire department observed light smoke on the 21st floor of the Masquerade Tower. Sprinklers were not activated and there was no active fire reported.
Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell says they had more than 70 personnel from the department at the Rio and also called in ambulances from private companies to help.
All 900 rooms of that tower have been evacuated. It appears that an electrical issue on the 14th floor may have caused the smoke. The backup generator is also not working.
Guests are being evacuated from the tower because there is no power. 13 Action News spoke to people being evacuated, they said the tower was completely dark, and people were using their cell phone flashlights to evacuate through the stairwell.
"Obviously the important thing right now is to take care of the guests," says Rich Broome, with Caesar's Entertainment. "Then to get the power on, and get them back to their rooms to resume business as usual."
Guests have been taken to the Rock of Ages Lounge to receive food and updates.
The property is near capacity for New Year's Eve.
Call 702-667-1795 or 1-866-635-6995 for room status and updates.
UPDATE: If you're a guest at the Rio, or plan to check in for the holiday weekend, call 702-667-1795 to check the status of your room
— Marissa Kynaston (@marissaktnv) December 29, 2016
There is no timetable for when the power will be restored.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- Fire officials responded to reports of a fire at Rio Las Vegas Wednesday.
It was reported around 4:24 p.m.
Upon arrival, personnel reported light smoke from a service elevator on the 27th floor, as well as smoke on floors 27, 28 and 29.
The Clark County Fire Department later reported it as a small electrical fire on the 27th floor, which was extinguished by sprinklers prior to the arrival of firefighters.
Diane McGlinchey knew something was wrong when she heard sirens getting closer to the Rio.
"Pretty concerned so I called down to the front desk and they said it was just a power outage," she told 13 Action News.
Initially, McGlinchey and her husband stayed put but quickly changed their minds as more fire trucks arrived. They then walked down 24 flights of stairs before finding out about the electrical fire in the elevator three floors above them.
"If they had just came over the PA system or set the alarm off to let people know to exit the building, it would have been the right thing to do," McGlinchey said.
There were no initial evacuations or injuries reported. However, later in the night, Caesars Entertainment was working to relocate guests in 400 rooms. The backup generators did not provide enough power for those rooms.
The guests were moved to other rooms at the Rio and other Caesars Entertainment properties in Las Vegas.
Power still out at much of @RioVegas which means guests from 400 rooms are being relocated @KTNV pic.twitter.com/c0VGPelPa5
— Gina Lazara (@GinaLazara) December 29, 2016
Fire at The Rio puts out some of the power. @KTNV pic.twitter.com/TErNuYahoD
— Gina Lazara (@GinaLazara) December 29, 2016
Lights are out at the Rio and @ClarkCountyFD on scene. I'm in @KTNVChopper13 bringing you the view from the sky. Tune in to @KTNV live at 6 pic.twitter.com/eeJpaF5z6U
— Eric Jungblut (@JungblutEric) December 29, 2016
13 Action News will post updates once they become available.
