Since his retirement from the Belize Police Department, former Deputy Commissioner Edward Broaster has been keeping busy with the construction of his home and the start-up of his food business. But his ambitions don't end there, since he is planning to become the owner of an ecolodge.
Except now, his plans have suffered a major setback since a forest fire destroyed his wooden cabin in the Cayo district, along with a sizable supply of building materials.
It was a preventable loss, but those that started the fire couldn't contain it. Now, Broaster must start from scratch - again.
Courtney Menzies spoke with him today and has this story.
This majestic hilltop in Ontario Village is where retired police officer, Edward Broaster, dreamed of building an ecolodge with a commanding view of the Cayo countryside. But a fire over this weekend changed all that. On Saturday, two persons set an agricultural fire some quarter mile away without implementing proper safety procedures, and the wind cause the flames to devour the dry jungle surrounding the hill. The fire made its way up the hill, leading to a devastating loss of more than $70,000.
Broaster told us today that he hasn't been able to calculate exactly just how much was lost in this fire.
Edward Broaster, Retired Police Officer
"When I went there Tuesday, I saw my cabin that I built from 2020 burnt to the ground with material for another cabin that was under it burnt up as well. My water storage tank, my palapa that I built for the kitchen area was burnt to the ground. So he told me that they knew who did it, who had set the fire and I made a report to the police initially. I am yet to give them my formal report because I'm still remember valuable stuff that I had in the cabin and as well the materials that were under the cabin."
"When I built the cabin at first it was just to have a little getaway. If you would see the scenery around the area that my cabin was constructed on, it's a real beautiful view of the northern and southern hills. There's like, I think 270 degree view of the surrounding areas, Spanish Lookout being seven miles down below and so forth. And throughout the years I said when I retired I would build an ecolodge, hence the reason I had more materials to do another cabin."
But even though his dream was incinerated, he's not letting that stop him from building his ecolodge, and he's hoping those same fire starters will help to construct.
Edward Broaster, Retired Police Officer
"I still plan to do the ecolodge, I went to register the name just yesterday and hopefully with my two hands I will be able to salvage some of the wood as well which hurts me dearly because a lot of huge trees have fallen onto the property due to the fire. We had troops of monkeys and so forth on the property and I hope they would return when the rainy season comes our way. But it's complete devastation."
"I will leave it in the hands of the police like I said and from what I was made to understand, the individuals that set the fire don't have the means to cover that loss that I have endured and so I will probably try and seek through the courts to do some compensation through labor."
The cabin was not insured.
