Faulty Battery Back-up System Caused Belargo Fire

As we reported last Thursday, there was a fire that afternoon at Belargo Enterprise, a gift and paint shop located in the Buttonwood Bay area of Belize City. Today, Station Officer with the Belize Fire Service, Kenneth Mortis told the media that, unlike the reports, they responded within a decent time frame and the cause of that blaze was a faulty back-up battery for a solar-powered appliance. He warned that when there are flammable materials stored indoors, there must be adequate ventilation to allow the build-up of the fumes to escape.

Kenneth Mortis

Kenneth Mortis, Station Officer, Belize Fire Service

“We got into operation extinguishing the fire, after which an investigation commenced. Through the investigation, we learned that the building was owned by 65 year-old Mr. Lawrence Craig, who at the time was out of the country. However, he was alerted of the fire almost immediately by his son, 21 year- old Mr. Lance Craig, and a worker, 75 year-old Miss Margaret Usher. What we gathered from these people was that they heard what was a continuous popping sound and unfortunately, without trying to investigate where this popping song were coming from, it is alleged that they made a call to B.E.L to report their hearing and it was when they were really alerted that fire and smoke was emitting the building. That’s when they decided to exit the building. From this particular instance, it serves to remind us, how do we go about storing hazardous materials, whether it be paint, whether it be thinner, lacquer, whether it be any sort of flammable [material]. These are considered hazardous materials. It’s not something that you want to always readily store indoors. I know unfortunately, we tend to look at security reasons in terms of, I’m going to put my stuff inside for safety measures. While you can do that, there are certain safety measures you want to put in place. You want to make sure that the storage room is properly ventilated, it has adequate space in between contents, so to speak.”