DOVER, Del. - Piles of charred debris are what's left from a motel room fire that killed a 40-year-old man in Dover.
The fire happened early Saturday morning at the Super Lodge Motel on Route 13.
According to Dover city spokesperson, the fire began in one room.
People living in nearby rooms had to be evacuated due to smoke and water damage.
One man, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing his job, tells WBOC he heard the sirens.
"I was here at 4 o'clock in the morning when somebody banged on my door and I had to leave," said the man.
He says the man who died in that fire was dropped off by a cab driver around two o'clock Saturday morning. He says he couldn't believe what saw next.
"He was on oxygen. He just got out the hospital. He killed himself, pretty much. That's all I can think. What the hell else are you going to think. You want to put an oxygen mask and smoke a cigarette with five bottles of oxygen in the room? What is the idea in your head," said the man.
What we don't know is whether or not all of the rooms at the motel had a working smoke alarm. A Dover city spokesperson tells WBOC that all of the rooms had smoke detectors. The fire marshals office will have to test those alarms to see if they were operable.
Investigators are working to piece together exactly what happened behind room number 143.
The name of the victim is expected to be released pending family notification.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
