Fire Leaves Couple and Three Children Homeless

A Belize City couple and three young children are left without a shelter after a fire destroyed their home last Friday evening. Claricia Brown told News Five today that she left her house sometime after four on Friday evening to attend a work function and received a call about an hour later that her house was on fire. Brown said that it was the help of her neighbours who used water that had accumulated in her yard from the recent rains that saved the fire from spreading. Brown laments that all her Christmas groceries and gifts were destroyed in the blaze. While fire personnel have not concluded their investigation of the fire as yet, Brown suspects the fire was started from a firecracker that caught her curtain. She is grateful to her employer for assisting her family with a place to stay, but she is appealing to the public, hoping that somehow, they can have a place called home for the holidays.

Claricia Brown

Claricia Brown, Fire Victim

“I left for a work event on Friday, like after four. While at the work event, I unfortunately got the call that the house was on fire and burning down.  Immediately, my co-workers assisted me in reaching here. And upon arrival, we just saw all the damages. The neighbors and friends and everybody basically assisted in outing the fire because we have water in the yard, so the water was used – because afterwards, the fire personnel then got to the scene. They did went ahead and used buckets and everything to halt the fire. When the fire personnel came, they still went in and just ensured that everything was completely, yes, ma’am. My own investigation in the area was unfortunately the firecrackers in the area and it seemed to have caught my window and caught a curtain, which then spread from there.”

Marion Ali

“So one of the little dynamites, that we call it, was thrown or something or was blown inside your –

Claricia Brown

“Either it was fireworks or the cracker is called pop shot, either one of those, but my understanding is that it caught from that window. No faulty wiring or anything because then we had no current in the area. Nothing was left on because then nobody was here. My daughter was attending a little activity on the basketball court. No cooking was done, everything was secured and it’s something that’s done every single day. So I know it’s not something that was neglected to cause the fire.”

Marion Ali

“You had just invested in what?”

Claricia Brown

“Groceries, Christmas stuff, just basically Christmas shopping, everything – gifts, everything – personal hygiene, everything. We had our television, our refrigerator, the stove, a washing machine, every single thing. Yes, it’s a small house, but honestly, it was our home. And every single thing was lost, documents, everything, gone. If anybody wants to, you know, help out, I can be reached. My number is 635 0039, or they can also just basically reach out to any of my sisters here at the residence or also at Belize Healthcare Partners, since that’s where I’m currently staying at the moment.”