Fire destroys two houses in Belize City
It could have been worse…much worse. That’s the conclusion of both residents and firemen who witnessed the blaze which erupted on Plues Street around 7:30 this morning. Patrick Jones has the story.
PATRICK JONES REPORTING
When the fire service arrived on the scene, two wooden buildings had already been gutted and the flames were licking at a third.
Henry Baizar – Fire Chief
“So we went offense and defensive at the same time by outing the one that was just catching and then we concentrated in allowing the fire not to go any further.”
With the buildings so close to each other, Baizar says it was nothing short of a miracle that there wasn’t more damage. According to one eye witness, the fury of the fire was so intense, some people barely had time to react.
Mehetibel Slusher – Eye Witness
“When I look da back, I see the smoke. So i seh da weh da smoke di come from. An when I look upstairs at Esme house, I tell her, I say, Zilla fire. So I get up and I run da di back, I say Esme fire. Fire Esme. And when Esme run from upstairs, y mi can’t do nothing, because the fire done blaze up already …no tek out nothing out a the house, nothing, nothing, nothing, no even wah spoon. Nothing. Lose everything.”
Those who were able to, grabbed whatever they could and dashed for the safety of the street. But Blumell Danielson, had to sit helplessly by and watch eighteen years of hers and her husband’s life’s work go up in smoke.
Bluemell Danielson – Fire Victim
“I just came out of my house and suddenly they said fire and when I look back I see the fire and when I dash in there, my grandson told me not to go in. And I come cross here and that’s all.
Q: So when time dem say fire, your house mi done the burn already?
The gush mi done the start from cross da the big house to my house.
Q: You have any idea how the fire started?
Well the child from over the next side, fu she mother mi deh da work and she say it started from a fan…”
Danielson, who makes pillows to help make ends meet, told News Five that she had already started production of a large order that was to have been delivered later this month. All of which was lost to the fire. Preliminary investigations have led fire officials to the conclusion that the fire erupted in one of the bedrooms of the house at 137 Plues Street, but the Fire Chief says that to determine exactly what sparked the blaze is going to take deeper analysis.
Henry Baizar
“The one where the fire started was, 137 was where the fire started as far as we are concerned. The fire then spread into the one just behind it which was about four feet away, that one was totalled, they didn’t save anything from that house.
Q: From your preliminary investigations, what would you all say, how did the fire start?
Its very difficult because we need to find out, we don’t know if its electrical, we don’t know if a kid start the fire, we really don’t know that until we have all, we need to have some indications, we need to find the fuse box, we need to look at it, we need to analyze it to see if there were any shortage, we need to actually find the box, open it and then from it give us an indication if it was an electrical fire.
Q: Are there any other characteristics you can go by from the burnt rubble?
No, from the burnt rubble you know where the fire started, but you don’t know what caused it.
Q: Have you established where it started in the house?
Yes, we’ve established where it started in the house. It started in one of the middle rooms in the house.”
A combination of quick response on the part of firemen and alert neighbors along with lady luck, appears to have prevented a much bigger catastrophe. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
At newstime the fire department had still not pinpointed the cause of the blaze. Total damage is estimated between 75 and 100 thousand dollars.
