Cause of fatal fire still unknown
It was a catastrophe that shocked the close knit series of villages along the Hummingbird Highway and Stann Creek Valley Road. But for most Belizeans, the death of two children in a mysterious fire remained a tragedy without a face…until now, that is. This afternoon I travelled south and discovered that there are still more questions than answers.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Today, family members gathered at the Gutierrez home in Valley Community to mourn the loss of four-year-old Francisco Williams and his three-year-old sister Xina. The children burnt to death on Tuesday morning when flames engulfed this building in the family’s backyard. According to grieving mother, twenty year old Flordelma Gutierrez, the toddlers were alone for ten minutes as she stood at the roadside in front her house buying ideals. It was ten minutes too long.
Flordelma Gutierrez
“That dah mi a minute when dah lone fire, you noh see no smoking or nothing, I noh know what happen. Nobody cooks downstairs, nothing downstairs, I cook upstairs.”
Janelle Chanona
“Could there have been matches or something around?”
Flordelma Gutierrez
“I don’t think so, because when I left they nevah have nothing in their hands, so I noh know weh happen that minute, only God knows what happened.”
Flordelma Gutierrez
“I only hear two screaming from my lee son, I nevah know my lee gal mi deh in there. After a while, when everything done, I ask my ma, weh my baby, she seh, up to she get bun up. I nevah know she mi deh in there, I mi think dah only the lee bwai.”
It was then the confused mother found out that she had lost not one but both her children. The charred remains of the children were found clinging to each other on the bed.
According to the family, there was nothing in the room that could have started the fire as the stove was not connected to the gas tank and the other contents included only a table and chairs, two bicycles and a washing machine. Tonight fire officials say that they have already determined that the fire started in the corner of the room where the children were watching television, but the cause of the blaze is still unknown. The burning question that remains is why did the babies have to die? Couldn’t they have been rescued in time?
Flordelma Gutierrez
“The door was open, cause I gone in deh. Then wah friend grab me out, and then I try to open the window. The window mi lock, lock, and usually when yuh knock it, it open, but this time I knock and I couldn’t open it.”
Janelle Chanona
“So there were more than one room in this building?”
Flordelma Gutierrez
“No, one room, but the door mi deh yah and the window mi deh beside where they mi deh by the bed. The window mi deh right by the bed, so if I mi open that and try go through the window, maybe I could save them, but I holler fi mek the men come help me, knock deh or bruk down, maybe they could live, but I dah wah woman, I noh know weh fi do, I mi confused.”
Family members tell News 5 they believe the children could have been saved, but spectators who gathered at the scene held back Flordelma and her mother from rushing into the burning building, perhaps not knowing the little ones were trapped inside. Funeral services for Francisco and Xina Williams are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Thursday at Valley Gospel Chapel in Pomona.
According to fire officials, the investigator’s report on this incident should be on the chief’s desk by Thursday morning.
