Last week's fire at Bacab Eco Park destroyed that tourist destination and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in un-insurable losses. That was said to have been triggered by a domestic dispute that an employee was having with her partner.
Well, yesterday another tourist destination - this one in Orange Walk - went up in smoke - and the loss is total - 5 million dollars in value.
It happened around 3:00 at the The Mayan Garden resort located in Tower Hill Village. When police and fire teams responded they found multiple structures - all with thatch roofs - in free burn. The Fire Department's Station Supervisor discussed the scale of the fire - which you can see in our drone footage:
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service
"We know that the proprietor wasn't at home as they had left to go to the airport to do a personal run. As far as the insurance is concerned, we have no confirmation on that. We are still trying to gather the titbits to put the pieces together. Several thatch roof structures were destroyed; like rightfully mentioned, almost five million dollars' worth. What contributed to the quick spread was that all these structures had a roof made of a grass-type structure. All of that combined with the afternoon being a windy day, the flying embers, the close proximity of all these units, even if we were on the scene before the fire started, there was little salvaging that could have been done by us. The structure alone posed as a threat to the owner. When we responded from Orange Walk Town itself which is an approximately five six miles from where they are, one of the only plus for this establishment was the fact that it had a nine-thousand-gallon pool which we could have readily used to aid in supplementary supply to the scene. As it is, the investigation into the cause of this fire is still ongoing and we do not want to speculate whether it was a negligence fire or something that was set intentional. I am hoping that we get a concrete conclusion by the end of today."
Reporter
"Do you have any information that the buildings were not insured. Do you have any update on that?"
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service
"That was confirmed. There was no insurance to this establishment. There are speculations that the owner was going through some financial difficulties at this time. That's something that we need to look into. This would be in my mind close comparison of that of Bacab whereby the owner of the establishment is basically footing any expense to the establishment out of his pocket seeing that there is no insurance. We are still trying to get a word with him. Like I mentioned he wasn't available for us for comments and we are hoping that we can do so before the end of today."
"Because of the way this building was built, if you don't know the area, you won't know what's behind that fence."
"I visited the establishment prior to, but I've never been beyond. Just the front of the restaurant. I had no idea there were so many cubicles at the back. This was new for me. I am almost sure my counterparts in Orange Walk they didn't know what they were facing when they arrived. I believe they were expecting fire to be at the front where the immediate entrance is at. It wasn't until venturing beyond the fence, they realize that we're in for a battle. Of course, the best that we did wasn't enough. Everything went up in flames."
We'll follow up when more is known about the cause of the fire.
