Photo: Kaylee Flores, deceased

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Wed. June 14, 2023

Kaylee Flores, a 4-year-old girl with special needs, died in a fire that overtook the 30 feet by 30 feet home on Sarstoon Street in Belize City in which she had been sleeping in the wee hours of Wednesday, June 14.

The child had reportedly been spending the overnight at the home of her uncle, Fabrio Paradez, 21, a Belizean security guard, when the fire erupted at about 4:00 a.m. At that time Paradez and his common-law wife and his younger sister, as well as little Kaylee, had all been sleeping.

Paradez’s younger sister reportedly went to use the bathroom and saw flames coming from inside the bathroom and informed him. They then exited the home without Flores, who perished in the flames.

The local media spoke to a relative who had been inside the home at the time the fire started, and that relative claimed that an attempt was made to save Flores; however, because she was a special needs child, she resisted the attempts of Paradez’s younger sister to take her out of the room.

The family member noted that the fire was so unforeseen that one of her female relatives dashed out of the home partially undressed, and had to cover up when she realized that she was exposed.

Some reports had suggested that the fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring; but Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor of the National Fire Service, told local reporters that they have yet to discover the source of the flames.

“Electrical was ruled out. We confirmed that there was no cooking at that time, so we cannot say it was a stove left unattended. We checked the area thoroughly, [but] we could not find anything to support; even if the neighbors or family members would want to allege a malicious act, we didn’t detect anything on the scene. We didn’t detect any foreign substance,” he outlined.

However, Mortis did confirm to reporters that the fire originated in the bedroom in which little Kaylee had been sleeping.

“We can say that the fire originated from the child’s bedroom and then it spread back to the bathroom, which represents the front of the house, and after that, it spread out and consumed the balance of the building,” he said.

K. Raymark Theus, president of the Belize Assembly for Persons with Diverse Abilities (BAPDA), offered his condolences to the grieving family

“It’s quite traumatic for everybody who’s involved … but this is a very sad case, and being that is an already vulnerable person, being a child and disabled, it really hits home to everybody,” he said. “If you have a disabled child, be cognizant of that, and also situations in your house are not such that things can easily become a fire hazard,” he added.

In addition to the fire that caused little Kaylee’s death early on Wednesday morning, another fire had occurred on Sunday, June 11, on Rivero Street and left three families displaced.

While no one was seriously hurt as a result of the fire, one man suffered burn injuries to his leg and back and managed to escape from the flames by leaping out of a two-story structure unto the ground.

Neither of the houses that were damaged was insured, and the estimated cost of damages is unknown.