Two out-of-town guests at a local hotel went to jail Thursday night after their late-night prank caused the hotel to evacuate 50 guests because they thought it was on fire.

Around 11 p.m. Thursday, the front desk clerk of the Holiday Inn on Voters Road called 911 to report a fire on the second floor of the hotel.

Nine fire trucks and three police units responded to the call only to find about 50 hotel guests standing around and there was no fire. Fire investigators found out that what the desk clerk thought was smoke was actually the spray from a hotel fire extinguisher that had caused the fire alarm to go off.

Police and fire investigators looked a the hotel’s surveillance video and saw two men approach room 229 with a fire extinguisher. They pointed the extinguisher nozzle under the door and shot the contents in the room, and then fled.

After looking at the videotape, Officer Daniel Seuzeneau spotted the two suspects standing in the crowd outside the hotel. He approached the two men and after some questions they told him they had gone to room 229 at the request of the person staying in the room, but neither of them could explain why they discharged the fire extinguisher, nor why neither of them called 911.

The man staying in 229 told police he called his friends because he thought the room was on fire. However, police said all three men appeared intoxicated and none of them were clear on why they did not call 911.

Police arrested James S. Rathwell, 32, of Six Mile, S.C. and Kim D. Weldon, 38, of Alvin, Texas on charges of terrorizing, criminal damage, and criminal mischief.

Police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said all three men had recently come into Slidell and were employed by an unknown construction company.

After being booked, Rathwell and Weldon were taken to St. Tammany Jail, and released a day later on an unspecified bond.

Not only did the men cause a panic and evacuation of the hotel, but also police said the fire extinguisher ruined the room and all its contents.

Hotel officials do not know how much it will cost to remodel the room, but Foltz said the two men will be responsible for payment, plus they may be held accountable for the costs of bringing in nine fire units to a fire that never happened.