Fire leaves Belize City family homeless

A Belize City family was left without a roof over their heads and little else to call their own as fire swept through their Cemetery Road home this morning. News Five’s Patrick Jones reports.

Fire fighters were on the scene shortly after the fire started around nine this morning. But Fire Chief Henry Baizar says there was little his men could do but prevent the flames from spreading.

Henry Baizar, Fire Chief

“We got the fire under control pretty quick after we arrived here and the real cause of the fire is not yet known, simply because there was no one at home at the time. We are still putting the fire out. We need to go in there and see if we can identify where it started and find out how it started. From the time we got here till the fire was brought under control, it was about twenty minutes.”

And by the time that feat was accomplished, Mona Theus and her children who occupied the upper flat of the building at 113 A Cemetery Road had lost all their possessions.

Henry Baizar

“Nothing was saved, because there was no one at home and when we got here the whole place was on fire. The occupants, both upstairs and downstairs, are not insured.”

While the upstairs was completely gutted, the lower flat, which housed a Chinese grocery shop, received only water damage. Patrick Jones, for News Five.

According to Baizar, preliminary investigation indicates that the fire started in the front of the building.