People staying at the DeSoto Hotel on Mills Avenue and Stanton Street were evacuated after a closet in a hotel room caught fire.

The fire happened around 12 a.m. Monday at the DeSoto Hotel in Downtown El Paso.

No one was hurt and firefighters said the room was vacant at the time, and they said the fire was started intentionally.

About 30 people staying in the hotel had to wait about two hours until firefighters could investigate, and some of them could be seen sleeping on cement benches underneath shaded trees.

People living in the hotel said they were all sleeping at the time the fire happened and woke up to people banging on their doors.

Police estimated that $4,000 worth of damage was done to the hotel.

This is the second time in a little over a week that fire crews responded to a fire at the hotel. 

On June 17, fire crews extinguished a fire in a hotel room when Larry Toynes set his carpet on fire, police said.

Police arrested the 61-year-old and charged him with arson.

Anyone with information on Monday morning’s fire is asked to call the Fire Marshal’s Office at 485-5699.