Hostel girls burn the roof over their heads

A fire at the Belize Youth Hostel at mile twenty-one on the Western Highway late Saturday evening totally destroyed the female dorm of the facility. One of the employees, Mary Rivera, told police that she was supervising the group of girls when she smelled smoke.  When she checked the building she detected fire coming from the attic in the bathroom.  Although attempts were made to extinguish the blaze, it was too late and everything was lost. Worst yet, one of the girls has reportedly confessed to starting the fire.  Marion Ali reports.

Marion Ali, Reporting

You might remember the ceremony back in April of 2007 when the newly renovated dormitories at the Belize Youth Hostel were opened after a two hundred thousand-dollar investment.

This is how the girls’ dorm looks today after a fire left the seventeen teenaged residents displaced after it totally destroyed their living quarters and all its contents.  The blaze erupted shortly after six on Saturday evening and police are looking at the possibility that it might have been the result of a conspiracy among a group of the female residents smoking marijuana in the bathroom.  But fire officials have not concluded their investigations and all that they can confirm is that the fire started in that location.  Director of the Community Rehabilitation Department, Starla Bradley-Acosta, says at present the girls are staying at a nearby compound.

Starla Bradley-Acosta

Starla Bradley-Acosta, Dir., Community Rehabilitation Dept.

“For right now we are thankful for our neighbors, the National Youth Cadet Corp, they are assisting us with one of their buildings and so the girls are placed there for the interim period. We are in the process of looking at rebuilding the facility. We’re still not quite sure what caused the fire and we are still waiting for the fire department to complete their investigation and submit their final report.”

But the police report issued today states that it was one of the girls who placed a bed sheet in the man hole of the attic and lit it, and that a fifteen year-old has since confessed to setting the building on fire.  An act of arson, even by a minor, could mean many years in lockdown.

Starla Bradley-Acosta

“If it was arson, we plan to hand it over to the police so that the matter can be dealt with to the fullest extent.”

Marion Ali

“So one of the girls could be charged?”

Starla Bradley-Acosta

“Quite possibly, if that is the case. If it is ruled arson, then the police will do their investigation.  Whenever anyone commits an offence, they have to be held accountable and this is a serious, serious, serious matter that we are not taking lightly at all.   It’s just by mother nature’s doing that the male dormitory as you can see which is very near wasn’t engulfed as well because had the wind be blowing in the other direction, I don’t think we would have the male dorm either. But thankfully, no one was hurt. All seventeen female residents and the supervisor who were with them got out safely. They weren’t able to safe much of anything, but like I said, we are thankful that no one was hurt.”

While the female residents and their supervisor escaped unscathed, the future of the facility looks promising because the Inter-American Development Bank recently granted new funding for more infrastructure at the compound.

Starla Bradley-Acosta

“We will be replacing this dormitory and for now, the girls are staying over at the cadet just during the night time and then they come back over and we will look at a temporary structure over here very soon.”

Marion Ali

“Are there enough beds, stoves, appliances?”

Starla Bradley-Acosta

“Our ministry was able to mobilize beds yesterday so we have enough beds, but at this point—well they are cots really—we will have to replace the actually bunk beds and mattresses. The girls were able to only escape with just the clothing that they were wearing so we will have to find clothing for them and some of the equipment and stuff will have to be replaced, certainly.”

The investigations to determine the exact cause of the blaze are expected to be completed by Tuesday evening.  Reporting for News Five, I am Marion Ali.