And in Belize City, two houses went up in flames in the early hours of Sunday morning. The fire started on Rivero Street before it spread to the house behind it, leaving more than 10 people homeless.
And the families that believe that the fire was intentionally set. Courtney Menzies spoke to them today and has this story.
Two families are left with not much more than the clothes on their backs after a fire destroyed both of their homes.
The fire started at this house on Rivero Street, tearing through it before jumping the fence and engulfing this home on Faber's Road.
One of the residents says by the time she woke, they barely had time to try and salvage some of their possessions.
Cristylane Fitzgibbon, Fire Victim
"It was about 2:30, minutes to 3, when something told me to just get up and I opened my window when I saw the verandah, the roof was engulfed in fire and I was so shocked, I quickly woke up my gentleman, my brother, woke up my baby, my nephew, and we just started moving around and taking out stuff."
Courtney Menzies:
"How long did it take for the fire to spread from here to your house?"
Cristylane Fitzgibbon, Fire Victim
"Like about 15 to 20 minutes I would say roughly because it's a board structure and it went very fast. It was a frightening ordeal but thank God no one got hurt, who got hurt was, well, minor injuries, was the ones in this house, they ran out through the door which was on fire. Minor injuries but safe and sound, thank God."
But it could've been much worse, especially since there were other houses in close proximity. And the families of both damages home believe it was a case of arson.
Cristylane Fitzgibbon, Fire Victim
"When the person opened the door, it was only fire there and they opened the door and the whole house started blazing."
Courtney Menzies:
"But to your knowledge, you'd have no idea why someone would light it?"
Cristylane Fitzgibbon, Fire Victim
"I'm not sure because I live in the other house, I don't live at the back here so I'm not sure what was happening and what was happening."
And while the families hope for justice, they're still trying to come to terms with having to start over from scratch, and are asking for assistance from the public.
Cristylane Fitzgibbon, Fire Victim
"Still in shock that all of this went down, it's like you wake up one day and everything is gone, in ashes, so still trying to grasp this whole concept of what went down, but just take it day by day and we shall get through it. Right now I'm with my mother-in-law in a one bedroom area so."
"We are just asking for assistance in whatever anyone could help with because this is a very unfortunate loss for all of us, it's like in total like about, I'd say, 15 of us got damaged with this fire."
Four adults and two children lived in Fitzgibbon's home. As for the home on Rivero Street, one of the residents, Dulce Sanchez, told us that they had just renovated it back in December, and that five adults total lived there.
If you would like to assist these families, Sanchez can be reached at 602-9150 and Fitzgibbon can be reached at 629-1527.
