Fire at Foam Factory
It is business at usual at the Belize Foam and Furniture Limited, where a fire destroyed a concrete structure and its contents. News Five’s Jose Sanchez was at the scene this morning and found out that within hours, the factory was churning out mattresses from its main building.
Jose Sanchez Reporting
A fire broke out on Wednesday night at Belize Foam and Furniture Limited at mile two and a quarter on the Western Highway. The fire department received a call from the company’s security guard at ten.
Ernest Dominguez, Substation Officer, Fire Department
“We responded and on arrival at the scene we found a concrete structure engulfed in flames that belongs to the same foam factory.”
Jose Sanchez
“Was it a very large fire?”
Ernest Dominguez
“The fire was very large in terms of the building itself. It was engulfed and it was very hot due to what was burning inside.”
Jose Sanchez
“So no one could have gone inside? It was essentially from outside your fighting was?”
Ernest Dominguez
“We did defensive firefighting basically just to contain and extinguish the fire.”
Jose Sanchez
“There are a lot of dry bushes in the area. Were you also they also dousing the trees while you were doing this?”
Ernest Dominguez
“Yes, we were. Around the building there were pieces of foam and stuff that is ignitable. So we had to keep those so soak so the fire could not spread from the building.”
Foam and Furniture’s manager Charles Abou-Nehra said the business was saved because only one part of the operation was housed in the gutted structure.
Charles Abou-Nehra, Manager, Belize Foam and Furniture Ltd.
“The foam house was engulfed in flames. So naturally I came over right away.
Jose Sanchez
“Was everything lost from the foam house?”
Charles Abou-Nehra
“Yes. It was practically total damage.”
Jose Sanchez
“Do you have an idea of the cost?”
Charles Abou-Nehra
“I want to say somewhere around seventy-eighty thousand dollars.”
Jose Sanchez
“Exactly what did you have in the foam house?”
Charles Abou-Nehra
“The foaming box, the foaming cylinder, the mixer, the structure itself and some foam blocks that they had made that day.”
Jose Sanchez
“You had any flammables inside?”
Charles Abou-Nehra
“Well, we only put enough chemicals in there to mix the day’s foam.”
Jose Sanchez
“It is normal to have the foam house separated from the regular business?”
Charles Abou-Nehra
“Yes, anywhere in the world you go, all foam factories, that adhere to procedure, would separate the foam house from the rest of the company.”
Jose Sanchez
“Any clues of what may have caused the fire?”
Ernest Dominguez
“Not as yet. The investigation is ongoing.”
Jose Sanchez
“So what are the firemen doing this morning? The fire is out.”
Ernest Dominguez
“We’re doing an investigation at the moment. So we’re removing the zincs and stuff to check the burn pattern and see if we can locate the area of origin and the cause of the fire.”
A day after the fire, mattresses were still being made in the company’s main building.
Jose Sanchez
“How does this affect work that actually is going on behind us over there?”
Charles Abou-Nehra
“It is not going to affect the mattress side of the company. Foam we can still cut. We have blocks in stock. And we should get up and running in three to four weeks.”
Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
Abou-Nehra says that the building was covered by Insurance Corporation of Belize.
