And in the weekend's final and perhaps most threatening fire, Belize City firefighters were called all the way to Orange Walk when a large amount of stored bagasse on Orange Walk's BSI property spontaneously combusted in the April heat.
Here's how Kenneth Mortis described the trans-district fire brigade's joining forces to fight a fire that could have created a major industrial blaze:
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor
"Sunday Afternoon, our department in Belize City received a distress call for assistance in Orange Walk for a fire truck to try and contain the bagasse fires in the BSI compound. We deployed a truck and group of men, and we joined the Orange Walk team in trying to contain that fire, which could have been more, pose a greater threat to the building. Fortunately, the operation didn't go unsuccessful. We were successful enough with the personnel from B.S.I., our Orange Walk team and Belize City team, we contained that fire. That was probably almost a half a day operation. We are thankful we responded and managed to do what we do best, fight fires. Regardless of the nature of the day, fires don't give you no warning, whether it be a forest fire, structural fire or vehicle fire, it gives you no warning and we must be ready to respond at all times."
"That bagasse is a combustible substance by itself, it just needs introduction of heat which apparently it reach it with ignition point and remember that has been stored up for years and years and years and that's a nature."
Reporter
"Was the damage serious?"
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor
"It's just bagasse. The structure didn't received fire damage, they would have probably been smoked out, but its bagasse. The breeze wasn't blowing towards the structure, even though I believe the closest structure was around 30-50 feet, but the height of this bagasse had the fire been more intense, luckily we were there for the superficial caused which was just at the top of the bagasse itself. It hadn't penetrated itself deep down couple feet beneath. We were fortunate, the BSI team they did a tremendous job in the initial stage in trying to contain the fire. Our Orange Walk team, they assisted tremendously and then finally the Belize City team complimented the operation. So all in all, it was a win win situation for all parties involved. Had it been something more detrimental than that, we would have still been out there today."
Mortis said that this bagasse fire was not the first at BSI.
