About 150 people escaped the fire at the Quality Inn and Suites at Texas 360 and Brown Boulevard. Arson investigators believe the fire started about 4 a.m. on the second floor.
Investigators believe that the suspects, who had not been identified Sunday, were cooking methamphetamine, assistant Fire Marshal Stephen Lea said.
Two people were taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation but were not seriously injured, Lea said. The 150 people who were displaced by the fire were relocated by the American Red Cross, some to nearby hotels.
Methamphetamine can be easily manufactured with common household chemicals such as solvents, table salt and ammonia, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Less than a mile from there in January, a lab exploded in an apartment on Dalworth Street in Grand Prairie. Extended-stay motels are popular with drug makers because they have working kitchens and provide anonymity, Lea said.
"They've got it where they can cook this stuff so quickly that they can get in, make it and get out," Lea said.
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