By Mike Finney

DOVER — James Owens joined dozens of individuals who looked in disbelief at what was left of a building that caught fire early Wednesday morning on the northeast corner of West Loockerman and South New streets.

The scene was devastating — yellow caution tape was wrapped around the area, firefighters continued to investigate and the sight of a burned-out building and the smell of smoke reminded onlookers that numerous lives were affected by the blaze.

Authorities reported that the incident resulted in the death of Gowens Williams, 57, who was found inside the building. Seven other people were either transported or self-transported to Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus for treatment of minor injuries and smoke inhalation.

All of the individuals have been discharged except for one female who returned for further treatment of symptoms relating to smoke inhalation that are not considered life threatening.

A total of 17 individuals were displaced by the fire.

Mr. Owens owned three of the businesses that were destroyed on the first floor of the mixed-use building — which included apartments on the two upper floors — and was devastated at the ruin. He was simultaneously mourning the loss of Mr. Williams, affectionately known as “Pops,” who was one of his employees and a friend.

“It breaks my soul because that ... man (who died in the fire) has been working with me for three years, and he never did nothing to nobody,” Mr. Owens said. “He always had a kind word for everybody.

“He’s always up just doing stuff. He’s an active guy. He lived upstairs with his daughter, but he’s got keys to all my spots, and he was probably just in there doing some stuff. I built him a little workshop in the basement that he works at.”

Mr. Owens also mourned the loss of his businesses — two locations of That OG Ish, an apparel and accessories store, and Sold Out Sneaks, which was between them.

“I worked hard. I started with one store and graduated to two,” he said. “I was having a real good rapport with everybody. I was able to do some things nice for the community — and now, it’s gone.”

He added that the pandemic forced some decisions that will make it hard to rebuild, even at another location.

“I’m always going to try to do as much as I can, but COVID made you make some hard decisions, and one of them was I couldn’t afford the insurance money, so I’ve got to pull it from the muscle,” Mr. Owens said. “It is what it is.”

The store owner estimated that he lost between $40,000 and $50,000 in merchandise in the fire, including around $20,000 worth of watches.

Ryan Weber, co-owner of the nearby Golden Fleece Tavern, also stood outside the scene Wednesday morning, providing families with food from Royal Farms.

“The guy who owns the store, James Owens, he’s one of my employees and one of my friends, and he was one of the groomsmen at my wedding, so I feel like he is family,” Mr. Weber said.

“They are all our family, and they’ve been here for a long time, and if they get hungry, we’re here to give them something to eat and support them.”

Vanell Dodd, who lives on nearby Governors Avenue, said her sister, Jackie Berry, resided in one of the apartments above the stores.

“To me, I just couldn’t believe it,” Ms. Dodd said. “For one thing, I mean, this is a good community. They didn’t bother anyone whatsoever. He (Mr. Owens) helped out everyone.

“We lost a good man by the name of Pops. He was somebody’s father, somebody’s uncle, and he didn’t bother anyone. Even for (New) Street to have a bad rap, it was mainly down (the other) end. On this end, everything was good. Nobody bothered nobody.”

Derrick Lake, a Rodney Village resident, is also a good friend of Mr. Owens’ and a regular visitor to his stores.

“This is unreal. I don’t even know how to feel,” he said. “It’s like, I’m pretty much here (at That OG Ish) every day, so to see it like this and then to know a life was lost, is just devastating.”

A moment of hope

When Tiffany Rodriguez pulled up to the building at Loockerman and South New Streets where five of her family members were affected by the fire, she quickly knew something was amiss. Then, after just one glance at the burned building, her fears were realized.

On school days she routinely drives her 5-year-old daughter to her aunt and uncle’s apartment in the building. She said three of the building’s apartments were taken up by her family members.

“The gentleman that passed away, Pops, that’s the only grandfather that my daughter has ever known because I grew up in foster care,” Ms. Rodriguez said. “So every morning I drop my daughter off before school to my aunt and uncle and they put her on the bus and they get her off the bus. Every morning she stops down at the store that caught on fire to see Pops and then everyday when she gets off the bus she goes to see Pops.

“My 5-year-old had to hear the fire and rescue explain to us that Pops did not make it and that was very, very hard to hear and then see.”

That was when Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen saw the little girl and took her aside, telling her, “We do the best that we can but sometimes our best isn’t good enough.”

Ms. Rodriguez said, “When the mayor found out that Pops and (my daughter) were very close he wrote on the back of his business card that she gets a free homework pass, that she doesn’t have to do homework at Fairview Elementary School for this week. He tried to be as supportive as he could. “He also said that at any given time we are more than welcome to come down to his office and he’d help out in any way he can.”

He also told her that he and family members that were a part of the (Dover) Fire Department had tried their diligence to rescue Pops and to get to them and they were very sorry.

Ms. Rodriguez was very thankful for the efforts of the mayor and all of the first responders. She said it was obvious they were doing the best that they could in a dire situation.

“The mayor said they’re doing a very thorough investigation,” she said. “He has all resources on deck, which I can visibly see that being on scene the entire time. We’ve had every agency, every fire department ... just floods and floods of people wanting to help and asking how can they help.”

Mayor: Fire site needs to come down

Mayor Christiansen was on the scene of the fire at around 2:40 a.m. and returned later in the morning to see what remained of the multipurpose building.

It wasn’t good, he said.

“Priority one is to take care of the victims of the fire and those people who were displaced,” he said. “Priority No. 2 is to make sure that that building comes down, as, in my opinion, from what I’ve seen this morning, it’s a hazard to the neighborhood, so we need to get all these issues ironed out.

“I’ve called the city manager (Dave Hugg), and he and I discussed whether we had the funds and the authority to take it down, if it’s unsafe, as quickly as possible.”

The mayor said that, with the ongoing pandemic and tragedies such as Wednesday’s blaze, the challenges sometimes never seem to end.

“We’re just going to have to tighten up our bootstraps, get all these issues taken care of and continue forward to try to redevelop downtown and revitalize the area,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of irons in the fire, and we’ve got a few more that have been added on, but the one thing about Dover that is really unique is we are resilient, and we’ll bounce back from this.

“Plus, we’ll help the families whose loved ones were hurt and injured, and we’ll get these people who were displaced places to live, and we’ll eventually move forward with our project to revitalize downtown.”