An artery of downtown Belize City was paralyzed for much of this morning as firefighters battled an upstairs fire at the part-habitation, part-bridal store and warehouse, Roberto Chee Store, at #6 Queen Street beginning around 9:00 a.m.
According to store manager Beatriz Chee, she was informed by neighbours just before 9:00 that fire was coming from the back window upstairs of the establishment, which sits next to the Angelus Press and across from Independence Hall, the party headquarters of the PUP.
Chee said that she immediately went to pick up an 82-year-old relative, who is disabled, and got her to safety. Storeowner Wellington “Roberto” Chee stayed behind to help fight the fire, and the rest of the family gathered across the street.
Police immediately cordoned off the area and the Fire Service went to work and had the blaze under control within an hour.
Business was shut down on Queen Street between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. and later for the remainder of the day, as stores on the ground floor of the old Marelco Building, Angelus Press, the Philatelic Bureau, the law firms of Dolores Balderamos Garcia and Lisa Shoman, and even Holy Redeemer Primary School on North Front Street and New Road, all closed.
Parents of students at Holy Redeemer came to pick up their children, anticipating that school would re-open at 1:00 p.m., but when we returned to the area at that time, the playgrounds and classrooms were empty, and a teacher informed that school was closed for the remainder of the day.
Businesses in the immediate area, including those mentioned above, remained closed this afternoon, except for Sunset Music Store, on the ground floor across from the Angelus Press.
While Beatriz Chee says she is not sure what portion of the store’s stock was lost, up to when we spoke with her she had not gone back inside, and not much appeared to have been saved. Kenneth Mortis of the Fire Service said they were called at 9:08 a.m. and responded within minutes. Two fire trucks were used and they stayed on the scene until well after 2:00 p.m., making sure that any burning embers from the fire were put down so that they would not rekindle.
Amandala is informed that only the Chee building, owned by Wellington Chee, suffered fire damage inside the upper portion and water damage elsewhere. No other buildings were affected.
When we reached Wellington Chee this evening, he said that the building itself was not insured, but some of its contents were. He asked that we call back tomorrow for further details, as he is still tallying the monetary estimate of what was damaged and would be able to better explain at that time.
The same premises was the scene of a fire in 1992, which destroyed the lower portion, housing the store.