by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Tues. Mar. 7, 2023
On Sunday, March 5, two houses in the Lake Independence area of Belize City were burnt by a fire in the area, and on Tuesday, March 7, a small fire on Curassow Street in Belize City damaged the residence of a mother of seven who is now seeking the public’s assistance.
At around 10:30 on Sunday morning, a blaze that erupted on Fistela Metzgen Street in the Lake Independence area destroyed a wooden home. According to reports, Mark Burgess, a 33-year-old Belizean laborer of Tibruce Street, was alerted by his neighbors that his structure was on fire.
When police and firefighters arrived at the scene, they found that the house had already been destroyed and that another house was also being burnt by the flames.
Kenneth Mortis, Station Manager for the National Fire Service, told members of the media that the cause of the fire was electrical, as wiring from a BEL pole was seen running directly to the home and was divided into the rooms.
No one was injured as a result of the fire, and the value of the contents inside has yet to be determined.
While it was determined that the fire which destroyed that structure was caused by illegal wiring, another fire which occurred on Curassow Street at around 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday and which damaged the home of Judith Parham, is believed to have been started by a mentally ill man.
Parham, a resident of the home for the past 16 years, was visiting her sister at the hospital when she was informed that her home was on fire, and it is believed that her granduncle who sleeps under her home started the blaze.
Kenneth Mortis commended neighbors of Parham who played a significant role in suppressing the fire before firefighters arrived.
“We concluded that the fire was, I don’t want to say intentionally set, but it was a result of the negligent use of an open flame by the uncle of the lady that lives in that building. Fortunately, the fire was contained in an early stage before serious damage could have been done to that structure … Again, these are fires that could have been a whole lot worse. We could have still been out here today, but the neighbors, again, I must always say, played another crucial role,” he said.