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Authorities: Woman sets fire to home with roommate inside, watches it burn from chair on front lawn

The roommate had to climb out of a window to escape the flames.
Credit: Maryland State Fire Marshal

CECIL COUNTY, Md. — A woman accused of setting her home on fire with someone inside before watching it burn from a chair on the front lawn was arrested in Maryland.

The Maryland State Fire Marshal says multiple fire departments responded to the house engulfed in flames after Gail Metwally, 47, intentionally set multiple fires in the home on April 29.

Witnesses were the ones to tell authorities Metwally pulled up a chair to watch the flames engulf the home before walking off a few minutes later.

Authorities report someone in the basement of the home was heard yelling for help as the flames grew. People in the area helped the person inside the home out through the window, according to a press release.

Video Fox5 DC obtained from someone in the area at the time of the situation captures the person behind the camera yelling for a woman climbing from a window to "get out of the house" and "hurry."

It also reportedly appears to show Metwally "chilling back" in the front yard with what looks to be a book in her hand as the flames grow.

Deputies with the Cecil County Sheriff's Office say they saw Metwally in the area and took her into custody. Simultaneously, Deputy State Fire Marshals on scene determined the fire was the result of arson.

A total of four people lived in the home, including Metwally, but two were not home at the time of the arson, according to investigators.

The 47-year-old faces charges of first and second-degree attempted murder, first-degree arson, first-degree assault, two counts of malicious burning, two counts of malicious destruction of property and two counts of reckless endangerment.

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