Fire Guts O/W Furniture Store

Loskot Hardware and Furniture in Otro Benque Road in Orange Walk Town suffered major losses today when there was a major fire on the compound. Around 9 this morning, workmen were repairing a pipe that runs through one of the 10 wooden sheds in the compound. They finished, and left the area, not knowing that the heat applied to the pipe had been conducted right through the length of the pipe which runs into the wooden wall of the shed. The pipe became superheated and caused a fire to start within the wooden wall. That started a fire inside the building which soon got out of control as the workmen were unaware of it. Orange Walk Fire Authorities were called in at around 9:30 but one of the fire trucks began experiencing mechanical problems. During this downtime, the fire spread to an adjoining shed while the Orange Walk Fire Department had to call for assistance from both Belize City and Corozal, both sending a truck each. With this support, the fire was brought under control at around 11:30 this morning but not before it completely destroyed a number of sheds as well as the wood that was stored inside.