Other mistakes were also made:

The occupant opened the window near where he placed the smoldering mattress.Night shift employees, after hearing the first detector warning,accepted the guest's reassurance that nothing was wrong. Even when the occupant called 15 minutes later to report minor fire damage, they failed to check out the situation further. The occupant left his room door open when he went to advise front desk personnel of the rekindled fire. After he and the janitor attempted to extinguish the fire, they left the room with the door hanging open.These human behavior factors were, in large measure, responsible for the fire. Fire safe behavior would have prevented the fire in the firstplace.