Teacher’s House Damaged by Explosive

This extended holiday weekend saw two fire-related incidents. In Belize City, a teacher sustained minimal damage to his residence, but in Orange Walk, the home of a security guard was wiped out in what was believed to be a deliberate act by his own son. We start at the residence of twenty-eight year old teacher Andrew Ferguson of number two-seven-nine Starfish Crescent in Belama Phase One. Around three-ten Sunday morning, Ferguson’s wife woke him upon hearing that someone had broken glass in the house. Ferguson investigated and found that a corner side of the front wall of his house was engulfed in flames. He further noticed a broken bottle and the strong aroma of kerosene. He managed to extinguish the fire. There has been no monetary assessment of damages. Police in Orange Walk have detained forty-five year old Roy Bennett Mangar of Santa Maria Street pending charges of arson. According to his father, fifty-eight year old Lincoln Pratt, they had a misunderstanding on Saturday evening and Roy threatened to burn down his residence in Chips Alley. Later according to Pratt, he was at work when he got a call that Roy was dismantling his house. Lincoln went to the residence and found Roy at the back of the residence, apparently setting it on fire. The eighteen-foot-by-twenty-foot plywood house with zinc roofing was quickly engulfed in flames. The blaze was eventually put out by fire fighters; however, the house, valued at seven thousand dollars, and its contents, value unknown, were completely destroyed. The house was not insured.