Ten homeless in San Pedro fire

As if San Pedranos did not have enough in the way of natural disasters to deal with, a fire in that hurricane-damaged town has left ten more people homeless. The blaze began just after five Thursday evening and firemen arrived on the scene at the north end of Barrier Reef Drive soon after. National Fire Chief Henry Baizar says that quick action by fire fighters prevented a much bigger conflagration.

Henry Baizar, Fire Chief

“The guys continue and they arrive there and find the whole upper part of the building engulfed in flames. They got into operation and in about twenty minutes or so they had the fire under control. Only the upper floor had any fire damage, the remainder of the building was okay. Another building that was nearby received minor burning on the outside of the building, but no fire was inside the building at all. Just a bit of water went downstairs, other than that nothing was wrong with the building.”

Jose Sanchez

“Fire Chief, have you figured out by now what started the fire?”

Henry Baizar

“Yes, upstairs there were about three different families, ten different occupants lived upstairs this building. In one of the rooms there were three guys, one of them by the name of Billary went and light the stove. He lit the first burner and everything was okay. He went and he tried to light the second burner, they heard a hissing sound from the gas tank. The gas tank was situated in the door of their room, and shortly after the tank caught fire. They tried to leave the room as quickly they possibly can. One of the guys who were in that building, Welch got minor burns. He had to cover his face to leave the room, so he put his hands over his face so he got minor burns on his hands. They reported it as soon as they got downstairs that was when the tank exploded. That was when the whole building was lit up and there was nothing else anyone can do. Fortunately everyone was out of the building at that time.

“The fire could have been prevented. Most fires can be prevented. In fact number one, the tank that was leaking should never be in the building in the first place. If you have your gas tank, it should not be inside the building it should be outside of the building.”

The building is the property of Gus Tabony and was insured for four hundred thousand dollars.