A fire broke out this afternoon at the 14th-floor pool of the five-star Las Vegas hotel the Cosmopolitan, injuring one person, closing part of the Las Vegas Strip, and temporarily adding a giant plume of black smoke to the city’s famous skyline. According to the Las Vegas Sun, witnesses said the fire destroyed half of the pool’s cabanas in minutes, and hotel employees believed the blaze was started by a lit cigarette. Several areas of the hotel were evacuated, though the fire department was able to put out the fire in about 30 minutes.
Camera-phone-armed vacationers were on the case:
