Mysterious fire hits San Pedro supermarket
The sun had not yet reached the blue horizon this morning when La Isla Bonita was transformed into El Cayo en Fuego. San Pedro’s largest food emporium was on fire and when News 5’s Patrick Jones reached the scene around ten, the building was still belching thick black clouds.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Smoke still poured from the burning building several hours after the Island Super Market erupted in flames. A police patrol in the area early this morning raised the fire alarm.
Sergeant James Moriera, O.I.C. San Pedro Police
“Sometime around six a.m. my officer was on patrol and he passed the area and sighted that the area was on fire. So he alerted me by giving me a call and he get in touch with the fire department.”
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“And they saw black or grey smoke, heavy grey smoke coming out the bodega. They had to do a forced entry, they cut the locks, slide up the things got into the building. There was still heavy smoke in the building, but they could have seen the fire. They could have seen fire in the bodega, and so they start doing the fire fighting.”
National Fire Chief, Henry Baizar, says the fire was brought under control by nine o’clock, but difficulties in accessing all areas of the business establishment kept firemen busy all morning.
Henry Baizar
“The building is actually in two parts, there is the bodega and super market. The supermarket section of it, the upstairs, we’ve been up there, there is no fire there. The fire is on this side upstairs somewhere in there. But there are little sections in the building there and the fire might be under some of those little sections, these little cracks in the building, but we have people in there and they are in there with water and eventually they will find exactly where its at and they will out it.”
Owner of Island Super Market Nasr Harmouch sat in stunned disbelief as his employees and firemen worked to hose down what’s left of his five year old business. Harmouch, while declining an on camera interview, told News 5 that the building was covered by insurance as a result of a loan he obtained from the Belize Bank.
Baizar says additional manpower and equipment from central headquarters had to be sent to the island to fight the blaze.
Henry Baizar
“We had to bring in breathing apparatus and a lot of spare tanks cylinders. We have been shuttling things from Belize City, and so virtually we need a lot of logistics backup because you can only be in there for a period of time, you have to come out, the tanks can only last a period of time. And we’ve been at it; at least the guys have been at it since they arrived here, even before we arrived here, because the guys out here do have likewise. But they ran out and so we had to bring support from Belize City.”
Baizar says an investigation of the ignition source will commence shortly and that all scenarios, including arson, remain on the table until evidence proves otherwise. The Fire Chief says that the early indications are that the fire may have been burning for a couple hours before it was discovered. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
At news time, estimates of damage to the building and its contents had not been compiled. The Fire Department and the police have taken control of the building and will be looking closely for evidence of arson.
