Last night, we showed you the wreckage left behind in the industrial fire that happened at the Tu'Kan Foam Factory.
That's the compound, located at mile 13 on the George Price Highway, which specializes in the production of foam plates. Last Saturday at around 11 a.m., a fire broke out near a piece of the electrical equipment in 1 part of the compound. The blaze eventually spread between 2 buildings and completely destroyed them.
The National Fire Service managed to put the fire out, and investigators have been digging through the rubble to confirm its cause. This afternoon, we got a chance to discuss the case with Kenneth Mortis, the National Fire Service's Station Supervisor. Here's what he had to say about that inquiry:
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service
"The fire department as usual responded to that fire after receiving the call at approximately 11:25. The Ladyville formation was one of the first responding units. Upon arrival they realize the magnitude of the fire and immediate request for backup was made. It took another 15 minutes before the responding truck from Belize City arrive at location. So on an average by midday both trucks were on the scene trying to contain what was an already engulfed warehouse beyond the magnitude of saving. Our primary function was then to control the fire so it didn't spread to what still remains the dwelling that sits close to the warehouses. We concluded our investigation this morning and we learn that the fire started from what we will called building 2. In that warehouse one of the machines malfunction causing the fire in the initial stage. The employees and owners of the establishment they made several attempts in trying to extinguish the fire by use of hand extinguishers which after they were unsuccessful that was when we were alerted of this fire"
"When the attempt with the extinguishers failed, the fire got out of control. It's a foam factory, it houses foam materials and different stuff like that. Those elements that make up the foam plates and foam trays and then again there is chemicals. There is butane, there is a bunch of stuff within these 3 warehouses, they lost 3 warehouses which were insured with RFG and this is only the building. The 3 building was insured for approximately 1.5 million dollars. That has nothing to do with the contents. The contents were insured separately."
We also asked the spokesperson of the NFS to respond to yet another group of fire victims who have expressed dissatisfaction with the firefighting effort on their compound. There is the suggestion from those staffers who were on duty at the time of the fire, that the officials had significant logistical delays in setting up their firefighting effort. During that time, the fire continued, and it eventually burnt down a second major part of the compound. Here's what the Station Supervisor had to say about those concerns:
Kenneth Mortis - Station Supervisor, NFS
"The criticism was unjust. Truth be told, we had mechanical problems with the truck, however, those mechanical problems didn't surface until well after 3 hours of firefighting, meaning we had already contained the potential threat for a fire spread. Had a proper recording, or had somebody been in a position to do a [full] recording, it would have shown that when we brought in the mechanics to do their field of work on these trucks as I said, the fire was well under control. Truth be told, we only had about 2 or 3 other hotspots that were just there idling as it relates to fire. These hotspots were brought to the attention of the management of Nando's Warehouse, and after we failed mechanical-wise, we had sent our truck to Belize City to refill, approach the scene, and with the 1 truck that had 1,000 gallons of water, that was when we could have completely extinguished these hotspots."
Reporter
"There was the suggestion that maybe, the fire department could have helped them to save one of the warehouses."
Kenneth Mortis
"There wasn't anything we could have done, regardless of the fact, regardless of how you look at it. Tu'Kan sits approximately 13.5 miles away from the City. We got there, and both warehouses had already been consumed by fire. Now, this isn't finger-pointing, but I'll use this opportunity as a piece of advice. Tu'Kan had on its compound, or have on its compound, a pond, which is okay, however, Tu'Kan didn't have any fire suppression within the buildings. There were no fireboxes that could have aided them in protecting their establishment, seeing their location from the closest fire station. The building wasn't constructed with a fire extinguishing system, per se."
"Like I said, I will give them credit for the water pond they had in the compound, but having a water pond without proper fire suppression is as good as useless."
Later on in the news, you'll hear what the National Fire Service's spokesperson had to say about how you can significantly reduce the threat of fire hazards for your home or office building.
