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Fire kills pregnant mother, 23

HeadlineFire kills pregnant mother, 23

The inferno gutted 4 structures; 2 were completely destroyed

Eyewitnesses allege that firefighters were sluggish; Fire Dept. says “we did our best given the circumstances”

In the pre-dawn hours of today, the early morning skies of northside Belize City were eerily darkened by plumes of thick black smoke that spewed from bright red and orange flames – the product of a deadly fire that not only decimated two large wooden structures and seriously damaged another three in its wake, but also killed a young, pregnant mother who was unfortunately trapped in one of the burning buildings.

Sometime after 4:00 a.m., a small fire broke out in the front portion of the lower flat of a popular night spot known as “Kimmie’s Bar” on Newtown Barracks, as its four occupants unknowingly dozed in the upper flat, including the owner of the bar, Merlyn Moreira; Jacqueline Arteaga, 23, a pregnant mother of three; Moreira’s common-law husband; and a tenant only known as “Mr. James.”

Soon enough, their horrific ordeal unfolded as the fire – which was incidentally being fueled at the time by a strong west wind – became uncontrollable within a matter of minutes, and the raging flames trapped them all within the confines of the building.

Still shaken, Moreira told us afterwards that they were awakened by a strange noise, and after checking, discovered that the building was on fire.

Three of the four persons managed to escape the intense heat and scorching flames, leaving a panicked Jacqueline Arteaga cornered inside, desperately screaming for help.

Moreira explained that when they had reached safety, they heard “Jacky”, as she was called, begging to be rescued, but despite numerous pleas for her to jump from the window where she (Jacky) was, she refused.

By that time, firefighters had arrived on the scene, albeit struggling to control the wild blaze which had already consumed the structure where Kimmie’s once stood, and had begun an onslaught on another wooden next-door business establishment in addition to two other nearby buildings in its path of destruction.

Benisford Matura, Operations Officer for the National Fire Service, told reporters this afternoon that when they arrived on the scene after receiving the call at exactly 4:37 a.m., they found the ground floor and a portion of the upper flat of Kimmie’s, as well as the southwestern section of the adjacent building, Business Computer Systems, owned by Giovanni Smith, on fire. He asserted that the strong winds, combined with the old wooden structures, were major disadvantages in their efforts to extinguish the fire.

Matura said, “We got into operations to try and contain and control this fire. We all know that the structure for Kimmie’s is an old wooden structure, both of them, so the heat was very intense. The wind was blowing from the east going to the west at a heavy rate, so the wind was not on our side this morning.”

According to Matura, it was not until about halfway through fighting the fire that they were informed – by the police, who had apparently been belatedly informed by the owner of the establishment – about Arteaga, who had been trapped in the building, which, by then, had already burned through and collapsed on itself.

After a 30-minute search within the smoldering rubble, Arteaga’s partially charred remains were detected in the lower flat of Kimmie’s, in the area where the fire started.

Merlyn Moreira believes that it might have been an act of arson, but so far, although investigators have been able to determine where the fire started, it is still uncertain whether that was the case, since police have not yet released any details on their investigations.

Selena Magana, a friend of the deceased, also thought that the fire was deliberately set; however, an allegation which was also made by several eyewitnesses had to do with the length of time that the firefighters took to arrive on the scene and their level of preparedness for the blaze.

Amandala spoke to one of the first responders, who claimed that he had been trying to render aid to the young woman who was trapped in the fire, but police officers who were there at the time obstructed him.

He said, “We saw this lady shouting for help, so I was trying to help her. At the same time, you had the firemen and the police who were on the scene, and the policemen told me to move out of the way and allow the firefighters do their jobs.”

That eyewitness, who wished to have his name withheld, also said that had the personnel from the Fire Department moved more efficiently, Arteaga’s life could have been saved.

“She [Arteaga] could have been saved. I saw her struggling and tried to convince her to go to the side of the building which hadn’t caught on fire as yet, but most of these buildings around here have burglar bars on the top and the bottom, so it was difficult for her to get out. There was a fireman, but in my opinion, he was very weak for a fireman. He had a cutter and he was trying to cut one of the locks to rescue the girl, but he fell down because of the amount of smoke and heat, so I took his cutter and cut the lock for the house, but they thought maybe I was a thief, and the police started to chase me away, but that wasn’t even on my mind. What was on my mind was to help everybody to get out”, he said.

Proprietor of Business Computer Systems, Lourdes Smith, also thought that the damage could have been lessened if the firefighters had been able to mobilize quicker.

Matura, however, refuted those assumptions and maintained that as soon as the power supply was cut, they sprang into action.

He stated, “We got the call at 4:37 a.m., and we arrived approximately four minutes after. The initial truck started fighting the fire immediately, and the other one started about three to four minutes after. Upon arrival, we had a little problem with electricity. We had to contact BEL to knock off the power. We have our strategy that upon arrival, one truck will start the initial firefighting, while the other will seek additional water. The sea was right next to the fire scene, so the additional truck went into operation in trying to draft water to resupply the scene.”

Despite the criticism that the situation could have been handled better on their part, Matura noted that the firemen did their best considering the circumstances.

“We are operating at the best of our ability with the circumstances. The wind was heavy, we were by the seaside, and the two structures were two old wooden structures – Belizean people would describe them as “biscuits”, so when they got engulfed, it was a real fire fight. It was intense heat”, he responded.

Arteaga’s family declined comment, but the bar owner told us that she had stopped working at Kimmie’s Bar about a month ago, but still rented a room on the upper flat.

We understand that the victim was three months pregnant and leaves behind two other young children, ages unknown.

The tally of the costly tragedy is still being calculated, and we understand that the contents of Kimmie’s Bar were not insured.

While the bar and Business Computer Systems were completely devoured by the fire, the roof of a private home at #134 Newtown Barracks, adjacent to Kimmie’s Bar, was scorched and damaged, while there was also major damage to the roof and backrooms of Pandora’s Café, and the upper flat of another wooden/concrete structure situated behind Pandora’s was completely burned.

On May 22, Ersolene Wallace Gabourel, 82, similarly lost her life in an early morning fire when she got trapped inside her wooden house at the corner of Douglas Jones and Cleghorn Streets in Belize City.

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