Fire Landivar Street leaves family homeless
There have been a number of fires in recent days and the latest was this afternoon shortly after the lunch hour when a blaze gutted the home of a Belize City food vendor. It started shortly after two p.m. at the home of Regina Rodriguez on Landivar Street in the King’s Park Area. In the house were her mentally challenged daughter, thirty-three year old Marjorie Rodriguez and two minors; eight year old Giselle Rudon and nine month old John Rudon. According to Rodriguez, she was in the back yard with the minors’ mother, Leonie Ramirez gathering wood for the fire hearth when the fire broke. They were notified about the blaze by eight year old Giselle who had valiantly pulled away the two minors from the burning house. The fire spread quickly and nothing was salvaged. Rodriguez told News Five she did not know what caused the blaze.
Regina ‘Janet’ Rodriguez, Fire Victim
“I hustle round and I have a mental ill daughter, Marjorie Rodriguez, she is thirty-three years old.”
Monica Bodden, Love TV
“How did you get the information that your house was burning?”
Regina ‘Janet’ Rodriguez
“The little girl for my friend, she come visit me and she come out and tell me Ms. Janet your house is on fire. When I run up through the back I couldn’t even enter.”
Monica Bodden
“Was anyone in the house?”
Regina ‘Janet’ Rodriguez
“They were in there but they come out and when I check they both come out already. I have no idea; no idea how the fire started.”
Duane Moody
“You had anything on inside…”
Regina ‘Janet’ Rodriguez
“I noh remember. I’m a forgetful person but I don’t remember I had anything on.”
Duane Moody
“It’s everything…”
Regina ‘Janet’ Rodriguez
“Everything lost; everything. I run to the front door. When I reach I couldn’t enter either. I couldn’t get nothing. I had money in there and I couldn’t even get it.”
Leonie Ramirez, Neighbour
“Me and Miss Janet were at the back of the yard getting wood for her fire heart for tomorrow morning when my eight year old daughter holla mommy and Ms. Janet di house under fire. So when ms. Janet come by di backdoor she couldn’t come up so she come round and when she come round she still couldn’t reach the inside ah di hall. So I jump the fence and my eight year old daughter and the baby and Marjorie, the mental ill daughter and the lee gial mi deh out yah and my daughter done bring they out.”
Duane Moody
“She brought them out all three?”
Leonie Ramirez
“No, the mentally ill one could walk; she thirty odd right. But ih bring she out, ih tell ah fi come and hold the nine month old mek ih walk and walk her out here.”
Duane Moody
“What’s you daughter’s name?”
Leonie Ramirez
“Giselle Rudon…”
Monica Bodden
“At that time when you guys saw the house on fire what you guys did?”
Leonie Ramirez
“We frighten. Only thing I holla fi my baby and my daughter and ih she mommy we deh out yah. We done deh out pan the street side.”
The fire started from a kitchenette in the south eastern portion of the home, but according to Station Supervisor for the Fire Department, Kenneth Mortis, its cause is still unknown.
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, Fire Department
“When the department arrived on location, we observed that the house was totally engulfed in flames. Presently the investigation is still ongoing. We have concluded that the fire started from the south eastern portion of the building, which is a small room situated next to the kitchen. We have ascertained that there was no cooking in the house and we have ruled out the fact that electricity was the cause of the fire.”
The Rodriguez family lost everything, the house and its contents were uninsured.
And there was yet another fire reported in San Pedro, the third this week. On Wednesday, smoke was seen coming from a two storey wooden house on Buccaneer Street. The house, belonging to Claudio Azueta, was salvaged by the Fire Department. Reports are that Azueta’s seven year old daughter accidentally turned on an empty Jacuzzi, which caused the wire of the pump to catch fire.
