Butane fire destroys home, two vehicles

A butane-fuelled fire this morning in the Corozal District has destroyed a family’s home and two vehicles. According to Corozal fire station supervisor Wayne Armstrong, the call from San Joaquin Village came in around 7:50 a.m. and when fire-fighters responded a few minutes later, they found a small butane delivery truck, a Dodge van and a two storey building completely engulfed in flames. The crew, joined by a second fire truck from the Corozal Free Zone, fought the flames using foam, but when they realised one of the truck’s tanks were going to blow, were forced to temporarily retreat. Armstrong says police and transport officials then evacuated people from the vicinity to prevent injuries. In the end, it took fire-fighters just over two hours to control and extinguish the blaze. The driver of the butane truck has been identified as William Lucas, an employee of Belmont Butane Gas. Lucas claims that he had just connected a tank to the truck when he noticed smoke coming from the under the hood and inside the cabin of the vehicle. Lucas ran for help, but the fire quickly spread and caused the first explosion. The high flames from the truck ignited the wooden planks of the home and set fire to the Dodge, which was parked nearby. There were no injuries reported, but the home, owned by David Herstig and the vehicle belonging to Roberto Rivero were completely gutted. Rivero, whose house was near the fire, also claims that the intense heat of the blaze caused the plastering on the front of his house to fall off. Although home filling of butane tanks is illegal in towns and cities, it’s permissible–but no less dangerous–in villages.