Minutes after extinguishing the fire at the Sunny Side Bakery, a team of fire fighters rushed to downtown Belize City at the corner of Prince and Albert Streets where a Ford Explorer was on fire. The parked SUV appeared to have spontaneously ignited. A thick cloud of black smoke billowed out from the vehicle and covered two city blocks. The Explorer was driven by Deborah King who had parked the vehicle just minutes before it exploded. She told us she feels lucky.
Debbie King,
"I came into town to do a little bit of office work and I was upstairs for about five minutes and then my kids came up back and told me that the vehicle was on fire so I just ran downstairs and saw it engulfed in flames, the front of it."
Keith Swift Reporting,
Is this your vehicle?
Debbie King,
"No actually it is my brother's truck."
Keith Swift,
Was it giving problems or something like that?
Debbie King,
"Yeah I think he said it was something with the transmission which was giving a little bit of trouble. That was the only thing so we switched vehicles yesterday because he had a longer way to go."
Kendra Griffith, News 5
"You didn't notice anything wrong while you were driving?
Debbie King,
"No, no. Actually it was making a little squeaky noise but I just took my foot off the accelerator and then it stopped. I didn't smell anything burning or anything like that when I parked up this side."
Keith Swift,
You must feel very lucky right now.
Debbie King,
"Extremely lucky."
The Fire Department hasn't determined a cause of this blaze.
