A Fire in Maya Mopan is Caused by an Electrical Fault
Earlier you heard of the fire in Caye Caulker in which a mechanic lost his life. There was another fire over the weekend. In Maya Mopan, Belmopan, the Reid family lost household items to a fire which started in the upper flat of the building, in an apartment used by her niece. Fire personnel say the fire started from an electrical overcharge. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
A family in the Maya Mopan area of Belmopan is recovering from a fire that gutted the upper flat of the place they’ve called home for almost two decades. Cairin Reid says she was grilling chicken when her neighbour alerted her that there was a fire in the second floor apartment.
Cairin Reid
Cairin Reid, Fire Victim
“Saturday morning about 10:45, I deh downstairs di make some barbecue fi mi lee bwai cause dah his birthday and I hear mi neighbour di halla. Ih say gial, yo house deh pan fire. And I tell ahn no miss, dah the barbecue weh I di make; yo di see smoke. Ih say no, di hosue deh pan fire; look upstairs. When I come outside and I look pan dah side of the house, I see the flames di come out from the window. So I halla fi mi lee bwai dehn and tell dehn make dehn come help me try fi out it. And they get water and we get sand and anything weh we could pick up to out it.”
The fire broke around ten-thirty a.m. and soon after it was extinguished, but not before all the household items were destroyed. Police responded to the scene shortly after the blaze started.
Joseph Myvett
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch
“Iony Reid reported to them that sometime around 10:30 a.m., she was alerted by a neighbour that the upper flat of her two-storey concrete building was on fire. Herself, along with her neighbours, along with fire-fighters who arrived shortly thereafter were able to extinguish the blaze and what she observed that only the household items were damaged or destroyed by the fire. The building is occupied by her niece who was not at home at the time of the fire.”
Luckily the blaze was brought under control before it could spread to the lower flat. Reid says that fire personnel have established that the cause of the blaze was electrical.
Cairin Reid
“The fireman say that dah the extension and the fan. Ih look like my niece left di fan on the bed and the thing get hot and that dah weh make the fire start.”
Duane Moody
“Everything was destroyed upstairs?”
Cairin Reid
“Everything, everything.”
Duane Moody
“What would you say is the estimated loss?”
Cairin Reid
“Man I noh really know cause she had bed, mattress; TV—but the TV neva deh on—and the chairs and stuff mi deh upstairs.”
Duane Moody
“So it was a full apartment upstairs?”
Cairin Reid
“Mmhmm, everything.”
Duane Moody
“A one-bedroom? Two-bedroom?”
Cairin Reid
“One-bedroom. The next bedroom noh have nothing. The next bedroom noh have nothing. Nobody live there; only some chairs deh deh.”
Duane Moody
“So how does your family recover?”
Cairin Reid
“I have no idea. I noh know…cause right now, I noh di work. Only my mommy di try ih best fi try get back Ih think dehn fi ih house.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
Anyone who would like to assist the Reid family is asked to call 627-4573.
