A warehouse in downtown Belize City was almost destroyed by fire last night.
Sometime around 10:45 fire officials responded to a call from Albert street where smoke was streaming from a three-storey building which housed Wholesale Plus, a warehouse on the middle flat and a residence at the third floor.
Fire Chief Henry Baizer says his personnel had difficulty fighting the fire because of the intense heat and smoke within the building.
Henry Baizer, Fire Chief
"We arrived here and saw smoke coming from the second floor. We tried to make entrance into the building from the stairs but when we got there, there was a big metal door so we could not make entrance immediately. Just then, the owner came and they opened the shutters from infront here and we entered through the store and up the stairs to the second floor where we found the fire. Then we tried to out the fire but it was an internal fire and it had to be burning for a while because the building was filled with smoke and visibility was almost nil. The guys had to bring in breathing apparatus in and out, in and out, and so eventually they got the fire under control about 11:30 to 11:45."
"It was not a big fire but the amount of smoke and the heat that was in the building was tremendous. The damage inside from the fire was minimal but there was a lot of water and smoke and heat damage."
"From the first people that arrived here and went inside the building we knew the general area and where the fire was so we concentrated on that area. But we can't say yet where it started."
The warehouse's proprietor Bob Hotchandani told us that the contents of the middle and lower flat are insured for $500,000. You will recall that in 1997, that was the scene of a historic fire that spread from Albert to Prince streets and destroyed 8 buildings.