Ladyville Family of 9 Loses Home to Fire

Fires have been erupting everywhere; this weekend there were three fires in the Belize District.  In Ladyville on Friday afternoon, a fire swept through a wooden house where a family of nine lived.  Four children were home when the blaze erupted inside one of the rooms. The siblings were removed from the burning house, but everything inside was destroyed.  The family of Sharmane Bainton needs help to rebuild their lives and a house. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

A family of nine remains without a roof over their heads following a fire on Friday afternoon that gutted the wooden house they once called home. Forty-one-year-old Sharmane Bainton received a called just before four o’clock from her daughter who was at home; their house on Manta Ray Boulevard in Vista Del Mar Ladyville was on fire. She rushed from her work in Belize City to the house.

Sharmane Bainton

Sharmane Bainton, Fire Victim

“At three-forty-five, I got a call from my daughter. She called and she was crying and she said mom, mom, the house is on fire. So I put down the phone and I picked it up back and I told her what happened. And I asked her f the kids are okay. And she said yes, the kids are okay. I left my office and I went over there and I asked her what happened and she said mom I mi di sleep and ina her room—cause it start in my room—and she mi di sleep and she feel the heat and she see the smoke. And when she went over there, she took one bucket of water trying to out it, but she couldn’t out it. And then when she looked, she see the wire start to jump all about the place and so she throw the water.”

Seeing she could not extinguish the blaze, Bainton’s daughter decided to get all the children out of the house. At the time of the fire, there were two adults and four children inside; the youngest was a one-year-old. Although they were renting from Reginald Williams, Bainton says they were unable to save anything.

Sharmane Bainton

“She hurry manage to grab the kids throw them on her side and she managed to take the four little babies that were in the house outside and then she managed to come out. The only thing weh dehn take out of the house dah two bags with five or six piece of clothes; they try to get something. So while we were there, everyone was cursing and arguing and saying that everyone should have burn in the house. Dah noh my house; we mi di rent it but my stuff was inside the house, the man house lost. So I feel bad about it.”

Bainton flatly denies allegations being made that one of the children started the fire. Today, Orin Smith, the Station Manager at the National Fire Service, says that the cause of the fire has not been determined as yet.

Orin Smith

Orin Smith, Station Manager, National Fire Service

“Around 15:57, the National Fire Service Ladyville branch received and responded to a fire on Manta Ray Boulevard, Vista Del Mar, Ladyville, Belize District. On arrival at the scene was a wooden structure elevated approximately three feet off ground with zinc roofing, fully engulfed in flames. Preliminary investigation reveals that the fire originated on the south east of the structure. That structure was occupied by a family of about nine persons. The investigation into the cause continues.”

Anyone who would like to assist Bainton can contact her at 636-5221. Duane Moody for News Five.