Matura home burns to the ground

Tragedy struck today for five families on Central American Boulevard. They were just beginning to recover from hurricane Richard when a midday fire spread quickly to destroy the landmark house that was situated dangerously close to a cluster of other houses in the same yard. The blaze started from the upper flat of the two storey building and while no one was injured, the families lost everything. Among the victims, is the Matura family, well known to the neighborhood and to the police.  When News Five’s Isani Cayetano got to the scene, the inferno was blazing. He files the following report.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Marva Mendoza, an employee of Belize Maintenance Limited, and her daughter are only two of several residents who are tonight homeless following a towering midday inferno that totaled this two-storey wooden structure on Central American Boulevard.  It is the well-known property of forty-nine year old Adrian Matura which was home to five families including his daughter, Denecia.

denecia matura

Denecia Matura, Fire Victim

“I deh downstairs because when [I] usually cook or mek tea I woulda give everybody weh deh round me right.  So dih young lady weh mih deh upstairs I mih dih hail she fi ih tea when I do halla fih she fih ih tea I yer she halla ‘bwai!’  When I yer she halla bwai dah because she run downstairs dah my house from upstairs and I tell she noh bring di picni dehn een because dehn when I look up dah because di flooring from upstairs done dih come down eena my house.  I haftu run out with my baby and my neighbor weh live sida me baby because she gone fi gawn look fi ah job.”

Responding to the alarm Matura notified the occupants of what was taking place.

Adrian Matura, Resident

“When I run outside the house dah because di whole front ah di upstairs pan di Boulevard side done underneath blaze.  There was nothing I could have done.  So consciously ah say me and mi sister come and we say hey hail di family dehn weh live downstairs and dah soh wih start gather up di family dehn and make sure that everybody alright.”

On the ground floor at the time of the blaze was Daniel Matura who was inside the bedroom.

daniel matura

Daniel Matura, Fire Victim

“I mih di sleep deh dis mawnin check cause my back di pain me and when I conscious di house di ketch fire yo check.  Everything bun up, four TV, mi refridge, gas range, all mih clothes, all mi ma things dehn, yo check.  Wi noh got nothing now check, only dehn pants ya pan di line weh ah mih heng out dis mawnin check.”

Firefighters spent the better part of an hour trying to quell the scorching flames to no avail.  The crude construction of wood and zinc burned fiercely as residents, students and passersby stared in disbelief.  For many the Matura Village, as it is called, was a landmark in the community having been around since the mid-50s.

adrian matura

Adrian Matura

“This property deh ya ova bout sixty years.  But di house, dih property yo di talk or di big house?”

Isani Cayetano

“The house.”

Adrian Matura

“The house di ya ova forty-five years.”

And while the cairn recently withstood the ferocious gusts of Hurricane Richard it couldn’t survive the inferno which consumed it in its entirety.  Today the Matura family is asking for assistance but remains concerned that help might not be forthcoming.

dorla matura

Dorla Matura, Resident

“Da wah disaster because wih di try beg fi some food, we can’t geh none.  Di hurricane come, do damage [and] just cause we put up di lee ol’ fence dehn say Matura no need nothing.  Ih look like dehn noh like di people dehn eena di yard and this da wah next disaster now because di house ketch fire.  Weh wih ah do?  We need help, we need support, everybody.”

Denecia says that for the past week they have been seeking help with provisions in the wake of the hurricane but have been pushed around on several occasions.

Denecia Matura

“Everything eena my house get destroyed.  I mih have to put everything fu dry when I come.  Now yoh ask fi help, when yo goh da lotta thing, dehn push yo round [and] tell yo come back.  Yo haftu sign when yo goh and ask dehn fi some groceries.  Now wih need more than groceries.  Sih weh happen wah fyah.  Dehn noh assist we wid nothing none at all.”

A total of about forty persons occupy Matura Village including the five families that are directly affected by today’s fire; the latest in a series of tragedies befalling them since the beginning of the year. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

Since the beginning of the year, Glenford and Anthony Matura have both been killed while another relative, Jermaine Matura, is on remand for the murder of fourteen year old Hellen Yu.