By Khaila Gentle

BELIZE CITY, Mon. June 13, 2022

A Belize City house fire claimed the life of one woman this weekend. According to police reports, sometime around 1:00 a.m, police arrived at #45 Fabers Road Extension, where they found a small plycem house engulfed in flames. 

The Fire Department managed to extinguish the blaze, and upon searching the structure, they found the badly burnt body of a woman who has since been identified as Tessie Camal. Camal, 39 years old, is originally from the Corozal District but lived at the Fabers Road home with her common-law-husband, 39-year-old Bruce Garbutt. 

According to Garbutt, he had left home at 7:30 that night to go to work. When he tried to contact his wife around 10:00 p.m., he was unable to reach her. Then, at around 12:30 a.m., neighbors in the area reported smelling what they believed was smoke and shortly after saw the house ablaze.

Police investigators are currently awaiting a report from the Fire Department on the cause of the fire. Kenneth Mortis, the station supervisor at the National Fire Service, told local reporters in an interview that, while there are speculations as to what may have caused the fire, there is currently nothing concrete to report. He noted that the fire started in the bedroom of the home, which is where Camal was found.

“When we arrived on the scene, the firefighters found the door of the building open. We know that the room she [Camal] was in, lies literally right across from the front door, so had she been conscious, we believe that she could have made her way out of the building,” said Mortis.

The Fire Department has yet to conclude whether the fire was accidental or set intentionally.