A large fire in a congested neighborhood on Saturday afternoon could have been a block burner, that's what relieved fire authorities have concluded after reviewing the fire scene today.
The fire broke out at a popular restaurant and hotel on Handyside Street, one of the city's narrowest roads. Authorities responded to the call at around 1 and when they arrived on the scene they found the three storey structure completely engulfed in flames. Today we went looking for answers in the rubble.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
A charred gap is all that's left at 11Handyside Street, home of Mars Restaurant on the ground floor and Handyside guesthouse. But on Saturday afternoon, it all went down. The intensity of the blaze that consumed the sizeable structure was evident by the scorched marks on the building that stands in front of it, as well as this burnt Toyota Hilux belonging to the restaurant's proprietor Maria Espat Evans. Neighbor, Dorla Sutherland says she was at home sometime around 1 when she was alerted to the fire.
Dorla Sutherland,
"About 1:30 I just came in from Belmopan and I went into my room and about 1 to 1:30 I was in my room and I heard like a 'voop' like when you stat a oven but I didn't pay it any attention and afterward I still continued to do what I was doing. When my daughter ran inside, after she saw smoke on the verandah, she came and told me to come outside because the fire was across at the neighbor."
Jules Vasquez,
Was that hotel room occupied?
Ted Smith, Deputy Fire Cheif
"Earlier that day it was occupied. According to the information received, the tenant checked it out and that room was already cleaned by the person responsible for cleaning that room."
Jules Vasquez,
Had they noticed any accelerants, any thing that would start a fire in there?
Ted Smith,
"No we have no reason to believe a use of accelerants."
Sutherland says she quickly came out of her home. But while she and her family were able to make it out those in the lower flat of the burning building were totally unaware of what was going on in the upper flat.
Dorla Sutherland,
"When we were downstairs I just saw like smoke coming from through the front windows and then we stand up out there and we saw the fire trucks came but they took a little while to come. I understand from the people who owned the building downstairs that they had just like a little karaoke thing down there, which they normally have and thing. They said one of the customers from out of the building came out through the front door and the person went back inside and told them the building was in fire. One of the young lady said she laughed, and they just laughed it off because they didn't take it seriously and the young man, or I didn't know who was the person, told them, said it was true and they weren't running jokes and that the building is on fire for real. And they came out and looked but they couldn't come through the front because the fire had already engulfed the front part of the building so they went through the back and when they came out they saw that it was for true so when we were in there, the flooring where they were had already dropped in on them. They ran out and left everything and they didn't save anything."
It's different for Sutherland however as her home and valuables were spared even if it was a very close call.
Dorla Sutherland,
"This building is a old building because I hear it is before Hattie, before '61, and that is why I didn't hesitate run out when my daughter because my room is close to her room number 4 where the fire started from and where I was I was feeling heat and thing but I still wasn't paying it attention or anything."
Ted Smith,
"That fire was a dangerous fire that could have easily swept through that area there. Because of the close proximity of the other buildings, number 13, if you go out to the area there, its just west of the restaurant and hotel, its extremely close. Our job was to ensure that that fire didn't create a great conflagration in that neighborhood and we were successful in doing that."
Dorla Sutherland,
"I am really glad because this is my second fire I got into and it only happened this is the same thing that happened the first time, happened yesterday like water damage and thing. So I am glad for that because it is not something with fire but this is the second time I got saved in that kind of way."
The building was owned by the Estephan family and neither the structure nor the contents were insured. Later on in the newscast, we'll tell you about another fire which wasn't structurally devastating but it was morally corrosive. We'll explain later, but first.
