Fire Leaves Single Mother & Children Homeless

A fire in the city has left a young single mother and her two children without a roof over their heads. Deniesia Tillett left home at seven this morning heading to her job at Travelers Limited, where she started working just a month ago. Her twelve year old and four year old daughters were at school when something went awfully wrong at the house. At about ten-thirty this morning, Tillett got the worse news of her life; a fire was devouring her newly renovated house. It is now known that the inferno was caused by an electrical cord that supplies electricity to the wooden house. Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Around ten-thirty a.m., firefighters and police were called out to the corner of Pitter and Daisy Harris Streets in the Antelope Extension area of Belize City. There, a wooden structure belonging to twenty-five year old Deniesia Tillett was engulfed in flames. The blaze was quickly put out, but by then the house had already been destroyed.

Orin Smith

Orin Smith, Station Manager, National Fire Service

“Two units were immediately dispatched to that location. On arrival on scene, a fifteen by fifteen plywood structure which situates on the south east section of the property was found engulfed in flames. Following a brief size-up, fire-fighting immediately commences; the fire was later brought under control and extinguished. A second structure on the same property, which situates on the north east of the property, received minor damage to its facial board on the west section of the south face. Both structures were owned by one Deniesia Tillett.”

Tillett was at work when she got the call that the house, she had just renovated approximately five months ago, was on fire. By the time she arrived, there was nothing she could do and all her belongings including her documents went up in flames.

Deniesia Tillett, Fire Victim

“Yes ma’am cause they say mi house deh pan fire.”

Reporter

“What did you see when you got here?”

Deniesia Tillett

Deniesia Tillett

“Well I noh meet nothing. I just come when everything done burn.”

Reporter

“Tell us about the house, the structure itself…all of it was destroyed. Were you able to salvage anything?”

Deniesia Tillett

Nothing, I noh get fi save nothing. Everything weh I mi got, weh I mi own mi deh ina it.”

Reporter

“Who lived in the house? No one was in there at the time right?”

Deniesia Tillett

“No, only me and my two daughters live in there.”

Reporter

“And they are at school right now?”

Deniesia Tillett

“Yes ma’am.”

Reporter

“Tell us as to the value of what you lost.”

Deniesia Tillett

“I can’t estimate that right now. All I know is that my things weh I worked hard for just gone, one lick.”

Duane Moody

“Are the fire fighters saying anything as to what could have caused the fire?”

Deniesia Tillett

“No, I noh sure, dehn noph find it yet. All I mi di pray is that mi daughter noh left on the iron because ih like do it sometimes. I just hope that dah noh the case this time.”

…But it wasn’t the iron that caused the inferno. This afternoon, investigations revealed that an overloaded power cord led the blaze.

Orin Smith

“Investigation reveals that the fire originated on the north west section of the plywood structure. The fire was the result of an overload of an electrical cord. The structure from the rear was being fed via an electrical cord from the structure on the north east section of the property.  The structure the feed came from legally had electrical current, it was just supporting the structure at the rear via an extension cord….which for safety reasons should have been plugged out when all occupants had left the house.”

An overwhelmed Tillett says she does not know what to do now since she has lost everything she owned.

Deniesia Tillett

“I noh know. I noh know weh part I wah stay. I noh know. this is the first time this every happen to me. So I still ina shock.”

Reporter

“Will you be able to stay here tonight or where will you be?”

Deniesia Tillett

“I noh even think about that yet. I noh know, I noh know. All I know that dah weh I called home.”

The house and the items within were not insured. Duane Moody for News Five.

Anyone who would like to assist is asked to contact Deniesia Tillett at 632-0970.