Its one day to go before the long Easter weekend and tonight there are two families who won't be spending the holidays at home because they are now homeless. Their homes were destroyed in a fire this afternoon which ravaged one house and damaged another. Reports are it may have been arson but that is only half the story because the Fire Department is also under scrutiny tonight for their response. Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The 7NEWS team was first on the scene as this massive fire ripped through this house at the corner of Seagull and Gibnut Streets. The flames raged almost freely at high noon because while there was a fire truck and hoses on the street, there was no water. In fact these hoses were dry.
Area Resident #1,
"The truck came and no water was in the truck so it doesn't make any sense for them to have a fireman and fire truck in Belize because look how the fire is blazing."
Ronald Sutherland owns an auto body shop which was within inches of the furious flames. He along with his son Rondale had to use their own water to stem the spread.
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Ronald Sutherland,
"They responded instantly but it looked like the water wasn't enough and they had to find a hydrant and then the fire just continued to finish burn. They stopped the spread but the water finished, the water ran out."
Keith Swift,
You're laughing. What's funny?
Ronald Sutherland,
"Its not funny but they ran out of water."
Keith Swift,
I saw you guys wetting the vehicles in your yard.
Ronald Sutherland,
"We tried to protect the workshop. We had to burst our pipe to get
water to wet them. We had worry because they are a lot of explosives in here."
Eventually the Fire Department did get water after running 700 feet of hose down to the North Creek Canal within minutes the flames were contained but by the time the smoke was settled, one house was completely destroyed and another damaged. It was a little too late for this family which escaped with only these clothes and a sofa as well as this apparently emotional victim who had to be carried away in tears. It was also too late for Cynthia Usher who left her home at 6 this morning and was homeless at mid-day.
Cynthia Usher, Fire Victim
"I don't know what happened, I just came from my work. This lady just came and told me my house is burning down. That is all I know mister man."
Keith Swift,
What time did you leave your house this morning?
Cynthia Usher,
"I left here before 6 to go to work, I had to go to work at 6 o'clock."
Keith Swift,
Who do you live with?
Cynthia Usher,
"Me and my gentleman live there. He was the last one to left the house."
Keith Swift,
Have you seen him yet to ask what happened?
Cynthia Usher,
"Me and the man had a quarrel this morning."
Keith Swift,
Is there a chance he might have started the fire?
Cynthia Usher,
"I am not sure mister man because I wasn't here to see so I don't know."
The cause is a determination that'll have to be made by the Fire Department which has other questions to answer from those in the area such as the delay in the firefight and their choice of the North Creek Canal as their source of water.
Resident #2,
"I am not happy at all because we have to smell up this stinking water out here and thing. The canal is dried up right now."
Resident #3,
"We are not happy because this is 'lone nonsense, look at that. That is mud water, you know its mud water going into those people's houses."
Keith Swift,
But you guys are complaining about the smell right?
Resident #3,
"Yes you don't see people passing up and down and the [bleep] water is spraying on them."
This afternoon the Fire Department's Operations Officer Michael Middleton conceded that mistakes were made.
Michael Middleton, Operations Officer - Fire Department
"Initially the fire got knocked down but when we ran out of water, we took quite a while to re-supply the scene and that is when the fire re-ignited and engulfed the entire building. What went wrong there is that overall the timing of the movements that we made some very, I would say, serious mistakes out there that we need to definitely correct."
Keith Swift,
So who messed up?
Michael Middleton,
"To try to say like to put a blame on anyone, we cannot accept any blame on the part of the Fire Department."
Michael Middleton from the Fire Department said two trucks responded to the scene. Middleton wouldn't comment on the suspicion of arson.
