Residents in the Banak and Zericote street area awoke to the smell of smoke early this morning only to discover that a two storey home was on fire with a senior citizen inside.
After the fire department managed to douse the blaze, the body of an Octogenarian was found amongst the charred rubbled. But did he die in the fire, or did he pass away sometime before?
Jomarie Lanza followed that story for us today.
82 year old William Watson was well known in his church for his soulful playing of the mouth organ. Here he's playing it on the veranda at his home at the Conner of Bank and Zericote Streets.
And that home is where he was found dead this morning before dawn. A fire broke out at the residence around 4:00 this morning, and consumed the upper part of the home.
After speaking with some of the neighbors in the area, we learned that Watson - who was a widower - lived alone, leading residents and relatives to wonder what had gone wrong, and whether he had attempted to escape.
Fire investigations suggest otherwise:
Kenneth Mortis, Fire Station Supervisor
"So this morning, a couple of minutes before four, fire service received the call of a structural fire in progress on Banak street. We responded as per normal two units, all hands on deck, and when we arrived at the location, we observed the upper portion of the two stage structure, mixed concrete, lower, and wood upper. Whereby fire was emitting from the upstairs. Firefighting operations commenced, brought the fire under control extinguish thereafter, after which we conducted an investigation where we learned that the address stated as number 31 Banak Street building measuring 30 x 30 there was a body. A body was found in the building. We furthered the investigation, and that was when we determined and learned that the body was that of 82 year old, senior citizen, Mr. William Watson. Apparently Mr. Watson had been living by himself, and the building was set a blaze, so we confirmed that the fire started from the living room portion of the building. The building is insured with home protector for an undisclosed amount that was not revealed to us during the investigations. The fire is concluded to have been as a result of an electrical flaw whereby the television set was used as a means of entertainment had overheated and created the fire."
Watson, who was an active member of the 7th Day Adventist church in Belize City would routinely call his older sister Catherine Flowers, who is currently recovering from a surgery to pray for her.
But Flowers says she figured something was wrong when she had not heard from him since Monday.
Catherine Flowers, Sister of deceased
"My Beloved brother William Junior, eEverybody knows "cocky". Girl, I am proud of my brother, because my brother, you know, he got through a rough life and he changed your wife and met his wife Miss Wilma Staine. And I was so proud of my brother up to this day."
According to the fire department, police have yet to confirm whether Watson had died as a result of the fire. The Station Supervisor told us more about what they gathered from the scene.
Jo-
"Would you be able to see if, the condition in which you guys found Mr. Watson If he had tried to find a way out from the house or where was he?"
Kenneth Mortis, Fire Station Supervisor
"We found Mr. Watson in the living room area the sofa on his back. We know that or actually, we are waiting confirmation from the police department, forensic team, to a certain whether Mr. Watson died as a result of the fire, or he died prior to the fire. There has been mixed information coming to us, you know neighbors are distraught. Family members are distraught. while I am not at liberty to directly say how he died, or how long he died, I did try to reach out to the police department for confirmation, but I was told that the postmortem would not have been concluded until later on during the course of the day or until tomorrow. When that is concluded, then we can determine the cause of death."
His son, Fidel is consoled to know his father did not suffer from the flames:
Fidel Watson, Son of Deceased
"I feel very shaken right now. My dad died the way he died but what gave me a little strength though is to know that he did not perish. Like, bad enough he passed away in a fire like that but he did not burned up. You know, you just imagine to know one of your family member burning in a fire to ashes. They brought his body out, it was intact and I haven't seen the body because I have stepbrothers and stepsisters and they are the one who was at the scene and went to the hospital, to the morgue I guess."
"I haven't seen no picture but I guess later on I would get touch based with the forensic and see if I could see a picture of how they brought him before they bring him out into the bag."
His sister and his son remember him differently - but each knows he was a man who could be relied on:
Catherine Flowers, Sister of deceased
"He was loved by everyone. Everybody know my brother with his motargan. The harmonica that he played. Every way. I took my brother a funeral that he didnt know. Just to play the motargan. Mi sista da weh you gwine wid mi, I na no dem piple, you gwine go play the mortagan. He even promised the girls that he is going to play with the christmas party, becaiuse he usually do that for the YWCA."
"You see what happened now? I am definitely going to miss my brother. He called everyday. Thats the thing with him."
Jules Vasquez
"How will you remember your father?"
Fidel Watson, Son of Deceased
"Very quiet. Very miserable man. But he a church man. I remember going to visit him and I asked his wife, I said, how you deal with my dad? He's very miserable and I'm miserable too. You know, and she said, you know what happened? I make it go through one ear and come through the other ear and while he is talking and fussing, all of a sudden, everything gets quiet. He's in the room watching TV, church program and he is fast asleep."
A post mortem examination will determine whether Watson died as a result of the fire or due to some previous medical event.
