SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators have charged a man with setting fire to a hotel room that sent 50 people running for their lives Saturday night.
Fire crews were called just before 7:30 p.m. to the Days Inn in the 3900 block of Fulton Industrial Boulevard.
The fire didn't spread but the smoke left people trapped inside.
Channel 2's Jessica Jaglois was at the scene shortly after the fire started. She said someone threw a TV through a window to escape her hotel room.
Jaglois said a woman was carried away on a stretcher as her family watched.
She was one of 10 people, including a firefighter, who were rushed to area hospitals.
"There was a guest, I check him in this morning around 8, 9 o'clock. He had something to do with it because he did not open the door," hotel owner Kaylash Master told Jaglois.
Master said she has owned and lived in the hotel with her husband for the past 10 years.
"I've been working every day, seven days a week. Never had this is happen to us," Master said.
Firefighters say they stopped the fire from spreading but the smoke forced all 50 guests to evacuate.
Guest Ray McIntire said he heard an explosion before seeing the smoke.
"Our clothes, hangers and stuff started rattling, it was crazy," McIntire said.
He and his friend say they helped other guests to safety.
"Before the fire department got here it was just us. We was throwing rocks, busting windows out with bare hands," McIntire said.
All hotel occupants made it out alive.
Firefighters went back and brought two puppies to safety.
"I saw smoke and I didn't know what happened. I was scared they was gonna die," said Keziah Gates, the dogs' owner.
Gates was reunited with her pups, Toby and Zoe, who after getting oxygen, are both OK.
Fire officials could not report on the conditions of nine of the victims, but say the firefighter will be fine.
The displaced guests are staying a nearby hotel for free. The owners are footing the bill.
Early Sunday evening, police told Channel 2 Action News they arrested Roger Solomon with arson. At last check he remained in the Fulton County Jail.