by Kristen Ku

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 17, 2023

Over the course of the weekend, the country witnessed devastating house fires in the city, leaving numerous individuals displaced.

Residents of Vernon Street in Belize City are still recovering from a state of panic as four homes near one another were gutted by flames on Friday afternoon.

These fires occurred just a little before 2:00 p.m. when the Belize Fire Department was alerted of a house fire in the Lake Independence area.

Upon their arrival, two homes were already consumed, while the other two were in an earlier stage of destruction. Still, the fire was too advanced, so the firefighters had to focus on simply controlling further spread.

Despite their efforts to extinguish the blaze, the fire consumed everything within these homes.

According to official reports, approximately 15 individuals have been left displaced as a result of this incident.

It is alleged that the house fire began at a home on Hibiscus Street where sparks quickly spread onto two other structures on Vernon Street, taking only minutes to leave damages.

However, it is still unclear what initiated these fires, as the Station Supervisor of the Fire Department, Kenneth Mortis, says the families have not been cooperating.

“Reports reaching our investigating team was that some of the kids were left in the house unattended while the adults were out front, and hence the reason I mentioned earlier that the parents of these children are adamant in denying such claims. And due to lack of any cooperation from these families, unfortunately, we have to rule this fire as undetermined,” said Mortis.

It is understood that some of these homes were salvaged by families during Hurricane Lisa, and efforts to repair and upgrade them were underway.

Unfortunately, these plans have now been completely taken out of the family’s hands, as they have now been left with nothing, since nothing they owned was insured.

Another home over on Oleander Street, Belize City, called the attention of residents, police officers, and the fire station at approximately 11:00 p.m. on Saturday to the residence of Glenford Webster.

Webster is believed to be a mentally challenged individual who lives alone, and when approached by firefighters, was uncooperative.

It is believed that Webster started the fire himself before fleeing the scene, and it completely consumed his structure.

Mortis commended Webster’s neighbors for assisting and attempting to extinguish the fire before the fire department stepped in.

Webster is now the second mentally challenged individual to set his home on fire, following Barkley Allen, who lit up his grandmother’s home in Orange Walk town in February this year.