All-clear given after hazmat situation at Rosemont hotel

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Friday, August 5, 2016
Rosemont hotel evacuated for hazmat situation
Suspicious materials found inside a hotel room after a fire prompted a hazmat situation in northwest suburban Rosemont, Ill. Thursday afternoon, police said.

ROSEMONT, Ill. (WLS) -- Suspicious materials found inside a hotel room after a fire prompted a hazmat situation in northwest suburban Rosemont, Ill. Thursday afternoon, police said.

Rosemont police said around 4:30 p.m., emergency crews were called to the Hampton Inn in the 9400-block of West Higgins Road for a fire in a guest room. Before fire crews arrived, the fire was extinguished.

While the Rosemont Public Safety Department was investigating the fire, they discovered suspicious materials inside the room and evacuated the 158-room hotel, police said. Two suspects are in custody and police are treating the incident as a criminal matter.

One guest was taken to an area hospital and there are no other complaints or injuries to guests or first responders, police said. All displaced guests were relocated to another nearby property.

Some guests said investigators told them they were looking into the possibility of a meth lab being set up in one of the rooms.

"There was a fire. No one knows any details but you can't check in. I was supposed to check in and my shuttle came, but they wouldn't let us go into the hotel," said guest John Martell.

"We don't know when we're going to get our stuff. My mom and grandma are still waiting on their medication. That's why we're back here and we're trying to figure out where we're going to stay tonight," said Chris Parnell.

"I got a phone call that our family that was staying there was evacuated into the lobby, and then about 6:30 got another phone that, actually, from the lobby they'd been evacuated out of the building completely," said Sara Hollar.

The all-clear was given to the hotel around 10:20 p.m. and guests were being allowed back into the hotel to stay.