BELIZE CITY, Fri. Feb. 4, 2022– A resident of Antelope Street Extension died in his sleep during a house fire on Thursday night, February 3. Neighbors of Nicholas Reyes, 56, also known as “Chico,” began to smell smoke at around 10:30 p.m. and later realized that Reyes’ small wooden home wྠengulfed in flames. Firefighters arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire and found Reyes’ body charred by the blaze.

“During investigations, fire personnel found that this was more than a fire, as we found the remains of an individual that had succumbed during the fire,” said Kenneth Morris, Station Supervisor of the National Fire Service.

When asked by local reporters if the fire was caused by a malicious act, Morris said that it’s too early to reach that conclusion, since more evidence must be gathered to confirm the cause of the blaze. However, the results of an initial investigation suggest that the fire may have been ignited by a fuel load in the house and not something electrical, since there was no electrical connection in the home. The National Fire Service has also ruled out the possibility of candles or a fish coil being the cause of the fire.

“It’s too early to tell if it was a malicious act. We need our conclusion based on evidence; unfortunately, there wasn’t any evidence to support external use. Looking at the remains of what was there, the building itself, it could have been the fuel load. We learnt that this gentleman, 56-year–old Mr. Nicholas Reyes, basically lived alone, and he wasn’t a troublesome person to the neighbors of the neighborhood, which leads to many questions as to who would want to do harm to this individual, and of course why? His structure in question had no form of electricity, and we did a thorough investigation on the scene and we could’ve safely ruled out a candle, and of course the near possibility of a fish coil. We will now have to work hand in hand with the police, as we believe this has now evolved into a criminal matter,” said Morris.

He added that the victim may have been overcome by the smoke in his sleep before the fire consumed his body. No accelerant was found as the cause of the fire.

“We have a 990 system across the country, that takes you directly to the closest fire station and in Belize City, that 990 can now be accessed by both telephone providers BTL and Smart,” Morris shared.