The north side of Belize City was smothered by smoke and engulfed in blackout on Friday night as a popular low budget guesthouse was ravaged by a fire.
The fire ripped through the upper flat of the Downtown Guesthouse at no. 5 Eve Street. The blaze left 5 guests without shelter and the owner looking for answers. 7NEWS was on the scene and Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
From all corners and angles firefighters, police, and bystanders battled the fire at the Downtown Guesthouse which lit up the Friday night sky and threatened a primary school.
Once the fire fight was over, our seven news cameras captured the tense and confusing moments for 56-year-old Kenny Tsui after seeing her business destroyed.
[Tsui Telling firefighters “That’s my residence. I have a lot of things up there. I want to stay in my house. There is no fire on that side. Why can’t I go up with you?”]
The flames erupted shortly before 8 and shortly after Kenny Tsui had left for the store.
Kenny Tsui, Fire Victim
“I don’t know. I was not home. I went to buy eggs at the shop. And I was in the shop when the people told me to hurry and go home because my home was catching fire.”
But a neighbor Francisco Chavarria was there in the frantic moments after the fire started. He shared with us his account.
Francisco Chavarria,
“The room over there was on fire. So what I did is two guests came and opened there and so I went upstairs. I saw that I couldn’t do anything from that side of the verandah so I came downstairs opened this door where he was and warned the guest because there was a guest in the bathroom banging the door. I grabbed a fire extinguisher that was on the floor and I went upstairs and tried to stamp down the door. By that time the fire was already blazing so I couldn’t get in. It was coming from the ceiling.”
All the guests were evacuated and the adjacent Queen Street Baptist Primary School was unscathed. In addition, damage to Tsui's house was minimized. Fire Chief Henry Baizar says their response within three minutes of the call was both timely and efficient.
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“I think the guys did an exceptionally good job. You were there and you saw the closeness of where she lived and virtually that house was saved. Actually just the upstairs and nothing else was damaged. I think they got there and they did an excellent job.”
But Kenny Tsui isn't happy, at least not totally. Tsui told us on Friday night that Belize Electricity Limited disregarded and turned a blind eye to her complaints about her problem lamppost.
Kenny Tsui, Fire Victim
“See that light, for over three months it hasn’t been working and last time I phoned BEL and I asked them why the light wasn’t working. They told me its not their problem and to check with the city council. I don’t remember checking with the city council to complain but I think the fire started from there. See?”
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“The cause of the fire is electrical. It’s a electrical short, an internal electrical short, in room number 1.”
KS: The owner was telling us Friday night that it was caused by the lamppost. Did that in anyway contribute to this or could it have?
Henry Baizar,
“I don’t think so. You see from the fuse box you look at the remains that are there and all the electrical...if there was a shortage it would have shown that it was coming straight out of the box. The short was not coming from the box but from elsewhere.”
KS: Has that been proven to a certainty because there is also some speculation that the business was in financial problems?
Henry Baizar,
“Yes it was electrical. Yes.”
Resounding certainty, still hardly a consolation for the owners of this long serving rest spot for low budget tourists, particularly backpackers.
The Downtown Guesthouse was insured for $40,000 and its contents for another $13,000.