Man Hospitalized After Motel Fire
A 47-year-old Oxnard man is in critical condition with second-degree burns over 35% of his body after a bizarre Tuesday morning fire in a Ventura motel.
Richard Macias suffered burns to his face, arms and upper body, said a spokeswoman at the USC-Los Angeles County Burn Center.
Firefighters found Macias about 7:30 a.m. in a room of the Motel 6 on Johnson Drive with part of a plastic trash can stuck to his body amid burned bedding and garbage. Sprinklers in the room doused the fire, but motel staff employees had dialed 911 after the room’s smoke detector went off and they received no response by phone from the room’s lone occupant.
“It is weird,” said Bill Rigg, battalion chief with the Ventura Fire Department. “He was conscious and he was alert, but he was incoherent. . . . It appeared he was burning stuff in the trash can. It looked like stuff out of his wallet.”
Although it is believed Macias had been drinking, investigators found no evidence of alcohol or drugs in the room, Rigg said.
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