Fire at airport evacuates terminal

Operations at the Philip Goldson International Airport were interrupted for a short period of time this morning as a small fire started in front of the terminal building. Lindford Rosado, the Manager of Finance and Administration at the Belize Airports Authority, says B.E.L. employees were at the airport working on a transformer when their welding torch caught fire. Both the equipment and the transformer were destroyed. As part of a routine procedure, B.A.A.’s staff, employees and members of the travelling public had to be evacuated. The evacuation did not last long and for most of the day the airport operated on a standby generator. Late this evening electricity was restored to normal.