There was a massive fire on the Placencia Peninsula on Saturday afternoon. It wiped out five buildings at a total value of an estimated $400,000 – leaving 7 people homeless. We were on the peninsula to assess the damage and Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
These pictures captured Saturday’s inferno on Kuba Aly Road.
Brian Yearwood, Placencia Village Chairman
“There was a tremendous flame, lots of people, two to three homes on fire and at the end a total of four buildings that were burnt. One of the them was a medium size home and the others were kind of like bread and breakfast previously known as the Ponderosa. But no one was there, all the rooms and the home, the single home, and thank God everybody was at work.”
The rubbles are all that’s left and among them were the possessions of Filomena Harris and her daughter.
Filomena Harris, Fire Victim
“I just bought my grocery and everything and stocked it in there and I went out for help with my daughter who is in San Ignacio and yesterday I get
the call that the house was burnt down. I couldn’t come yesterday because I got the call in the evening. Today I am just reaching and I came to see that the house burnt down. I couldn’t save nothing.”
Keith Swift,
“What are you going to do now?”
Filomena Harris,
“I do not know. I have no idea what to do now. I am begging lodging with one of the neighbour because I have no where to stay.”
Filomena lived in a room rented to her by Greta Garbutt.
Beverly Williams, Fire Victim
“We went to church in Independence and we got a phone call that the house was on fire and when we came everything was already burnt down. We weren’t able to save anything. From what we heard it started across the fence and we
couldn’t do anything.”
Placencia has a fire engine but residents say the response was inadequate. They say villagers had to form bucket brigades to fight the fire in the 45 minutes it took for the fire engine to arrive.
Beverly Williams,
“Fire engine wasn’t at the scene at the time.”
Keith Swift,
“You believe your house could have been saved?”
Beverly Williams,
“Well from what I heard yes it could have been saved.”
Keith Swift,
“So said when you got here the fire engine had not arrived yet?”
Greta Garbutt, Fire Victim
“No it wasn’t here yet. Like half hour after I got here it came and they really did their best then.”
Keith Swift,
“Are you satisfied with the response time of the fire fighters?”
Brian Yearwood,
“To be honest with you, I am sure they did the best they could but I personally was not really satisfied with the response time. The response time was 45 minutes which I kept count of and I think normally it should be somewhere in the area of around 10 minutes but once again they are fire fighters, it is not the Belize Fire Department.”
But Village Chairman says the priority now is on affected. The rubbles are already being cleared out and the village is looking to rebuild.
Brian Yearwood,
“We are going to move very quickly. We are looking for any assistance from the people, any assistance that can be given to the people who were affected. I was told it was 7 people, they all live here, and so we are going to work with them and see if we can get them going, get their lives going again.”
None of the buildings or possessions were insured. The Fire and Police Departments are still investigating a possible cause. A man living in one of the rooms in the abandoned hotel was initially detained for questioning. He has not been charged. A meeting has been scheduled on Wednesday to discuss the poor response time of the Fire Department and other related issues.
