Another house saved from fire
A house owner on Lakeview Street, Radiance Tablada, is very grateful to her neighbors, whose quick reaction today saved her house from being destroyed by fire. Neighbors and members of the family who were at home at the time quickly threw water on the flames that erupted from an extension cord that had caught fire and was scorching the wall, and which damaged a portion of her sofa.
The fire was soon extinguished. The incident occurred about 3:30 this afternoon.
Tablada told Amandala that she and some family members were at home when the extension cord that was plugged into an outlet, into which the refrigerator was plugged, suddenly began to burn and emit smoke. The cord was near the sofa and the window, and the curtains on the window began to catch fire. According to Tablada, she quickly shut off the switch box so that the fire would not intensify.
They quickly raised the alarm, and the neighbors came quickly and began to throw water on the fire – putting out the flames in a short time. They had promptly called the fire service, but by the time firefighters arrived, the neighbors had already put out the fire, Tablada said.
Tablada said that the butane gas tank was scorched, but there was no danger of an explosion, because it was empty. The estimated cost of the damage caused by the small blaze was about $300, said Tablada. She wants to say a special thank you to Maureen Audinette, Rose Bennet, and a neighbor by the name of Eleanor. They are the three neighbors who rushed into the house and began to throw water on the flames.
The home is a two-flat, concrete house, and the fire was confined to the lower flat.
Tablada’s house on Lakeview Street is the second house to be saved from destruction by fire within 24 hours. About 2:30 Thursday afternoon, a domestic worker and a boy were in the split-level home of Philip Singh, the Community Outreach Officer of the Belize City Council, on Miller Street in the Lake I area, when neighbors in the area saw flames coming out of the window of the upper flat of the house. They quickly alerted the house worker and a boy who were in the lower flat of the house, and evacuated them. The neighbors also carried out a forced removal of the butane tank, which was locked, to avoid an explosion in the house.
The cause of that fire is yet unknown, but one of the rescuers, who assisted in evacuating the house worker and the boy, believed that it was due to an electrical fault.