A massive fire in the free zone is still smoldering tonight. It started on Sunday evening at about 5:30 and destroyed an $8 million eight thousand square foot building. Additionally there are 200 people from 18 stores in SP Plaza who are left without work. The cause has not been determined but the finger pointing has started. Owner of the SP 2000 Plaza Vinod Punjabi told the media yesterday that the Fire Department was late - only coming after a Chetumal fire truck was on the scene for an hour. Fire Chief Henry Baizar disputes that. We have this video courtesy CTV 3 in Orange Walk.
Vinod Punjabi, Owner
"When we reached here there was already a Mexican Fire Truck working on it but then later I came to know that the fire people came too late, that's why they couldn't save anything and the fire kept expanding and they took all the Plaza."
Q: Do you have any idea what might have started the fire?
Vinod Punjabi,
"No we don't have any idea as yet."
Q: What was said about the firemen getting here to late. Do you know what time they got here?
Vinod Punjabi,
"Well when I reached here there was only one Mexican fire engine trying to help. I was calling from on the road. I call Orange Walk, I called Corozal, I called 911 in Belize City and they said they were on the road but...."
Q: At what time did you get here yesterday?
Vinod Punjabi,
"Around 6:30."
Q: So from 5:30 to 6:30 only one Mexican truck?
Vinod Punjabi,
"That's what I saw. After 6:30 the trucks kept on coming but it was too late. It was out of control. If they were on time, I am sure they could have saved a lot of it."
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
"We received the call in Belize City at about 5:45. The crowd in Corozal received it a little bit earlier that that. And what happens there we have a plan that we have in action for the Free Zone. The two vehicles from Corozal
responded, one responded first and the other responded shortly after. And while that happened a vehicle from Orange Walk came to Corozal to hold Corozal in case a fire happened there. And at the same time a vehicle came from Belize City along with two pickup loads of firefighters. When the Senior Officer arrived here on scene, he got back to me and told me he needed more resources, that he needed the ladder truck, and so we dispatched the ladder truck shortly after that likewise."
Q: Mr. Punjabi is saying that when he got here at 6:30 or 6 o'clock there was only one Mexican truck that had responded to the fire and he is saying had the trucks from Corozal or from Belize City or from Orange Walk responded any earlier then at least some would have been salvaged.
Henry Baizar,
"Well you see, I don't know what procedure the Zone has, but they called the Mexicans before they called us. We will respond when they call us, we cannot respond before they call us. Once we get the call, we will respond. "
Jorge Aldana, CTV 3
"What time did Corozal Department receive the call?"
Henry Baizar,
"I can't say for sure. I know we got it in Belize at about a quarter to six, so they probably got it about five minutes after, cause as soon as they get it they will call us."
Q: It's the second big fire the Free Zone has seen. Are there any kind of talks to try and get a fire station here?
Henry Baizar,
"That's not for me to say. It would be good but that is out of my jurisdiction completely."
Baizar also discussed a fire truck that was burnt up. It didn't go down in the blaze it burnt up on its own. Baizar explained what happened.
Henry Baizar,
"We had to get water from the river and so we had to cut the fence at the back there and then they had to push down some stuff that was there, some wild canes and everything, so the truck went in there to get the water and apparently what happened, this is not for sure, all the dry stuff because the place was still soft the truck went down a bit and the fire started from the exhaust. There was nothing malfunctioning with the truck because even when the truck was on fire it was still pumping water. I don't know if it's too much of a loss to the Department, probably just some electrical wires that got burned. At this moment that I can see, it was a setback for us because that was the truck that was supplying the scene with water. We had to move that truck, get a bigger hole in the fence and get a bigger truck in there, so that held us up for a while."
Punjabi says only part of the building was insured.
