Arsonist Burns Down House on Rivero Street!
A blaze wiped out a Belize City property overnight. Fire officials say it was no accident and are hoping area surveillance footage will help identify the arsonist. Luckily, the occupants, including a pregnant woman, escaped unhurt. News Five’s Andrea Polanco tells us more.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Just before nine-thirty on Tuesday night, a fire broke out at this two-storey house concrete and wooden home at twenty-nine Rivero Street in Belize City. The occupants, Kenneth Flores, his common-law-wife and three other women, were able to run out of the house before the flames engulfed the structure. Flores, who wished to appear off camera, recounts what happened and pointed out that it appears someone may have set their house on fire.
Voice of: Kenneth Flores, Fire Victim
“Meanwhile I mi the sit down in the bedroom where I stay I just hear like water by the back window and when I get the sense of what the happen dah gas I the smell so I just hurry run out and warn everybody what the tek place and by the time I run downstairs, the whole backroom where I stay that mi done ketch fire and so we mi can’t save anything. And the young lady who owns the house when she run downstairs on the street she said she saw a male person the run back of the yard.”
Andrea Polanco
“You could imagine why somebody would want to set that home on fire? Was it a target for you or one of the other persons who live there? Any reason at all?”
Voice of: Kenneth Flores
“Well, miss, I don’t know why.”
Andrea Polanco
“Anybody threatened you or threatened anyone at that home before – any attempt like this before?”
Voice of: Kenneth Flores
“I never get no threat from nobody.”
Station Manager Kenneth Mortis says six fire-fighters and two fire-trucks responded to the scene of the fire around. Mortis confirms that their investigation shows that the house was intentionally burnt down. And today he praised the work of the fire-fighters who he said contained what could have otherwise been a tough blaze to control.
Kenneth Mortis
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, Belize National Fire Service
“The fire started from the rear of the said structure after which it consumed the balance of the building. They all managed to exit the building with nobody getting any kind of burns of damage to themselves but unfortunately due to the blaze they lost everything including clothing, household furniture and important documents. The fire department concluded that the fire started as a result of a malicious act. On the back step portion of the building we found the remains of a burnt plastic bottle with accelerant liquid inside. That particular bottle was handed over to the police department for analysis.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, someone intentionally set that home on fire?”
Kenneth Mortis
“Yes, we can definitely say that it was an intentional act.”
Andrea Polanco
“Was it a difficult fire to contain?”
Kenneth Mortis
“The structure and the vegetation around the structure indeed posed some threats for us. Had we not tried to do offensive fire-fighting tactics then the fire from the structure could have further created more damage from the garbage and the build up within the yard. Luckily for us, last night was a still night – a calm night – the closest structure wasn’t damaged by the heat in any fashion, shape or form. So, we are lucky with that one last night. But I must give the fire-fighting team kudos last night because I think they did a great job on the fire-fighting grounds to contain that fire to one structure.”
But for Flores the destruction of that one house is too much. Just a few weeks ago he relocated from Dangriga to Belize City and on Tuesday night he watched everything he owned go up in smoke. And now he says it will be even tougher for him to hustle for his living so he needs help to get back on his feet.
Voice of: Kenneth Flores
“I just move deh like a month ago.”
Andrea Polanco
“Kenneth how rough is this for you to have just moved there and to lose all your stuff just like this?”
Voice of: Kenneth Flores
“It really hurt me miss because I just the try. I come from far and I nuh own anything so I don’t want to go back to where I come back from without own anything so I said I want to try earn something or own something before I go back home. And now I just come yah come lose everything. If I could get help inna any kind of way, I would appreciate it. That’s it. I had my weed-eater machine in the place and that burn. I had two bikes inna the place and that burn too. So, now, I nuh know. I used to use my bike fi go hustle because I nuh have no permanent job or a government job that I could say that I could go to everyday so I try make my own.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
Flores says that his cell-phone was destroyed in the blaze and has no direct form of communication. He has not yet found a new place to relocate.
