Photo: Burnt remains of 2 houses
by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Fri. Aug. 2, 2024
Two homes on Laura Dunn Street in Belize City were burnt to the ground on Friday, August 2—causing great loss to two families.
According to one fire victim, Richard Pelayo, sometime after midnight, he noticed the smell of something burning near his home, and when he inspected his house, he realized that his neighbor’s home (identified only as Brittney) was engulfed in flames.
Pelayo mentioned that attempts were made to extinguish the blaze, as he and his wife filled buckets of water to extinguish the flames; but those efforts failed, and the flames spread and consumed his home.
Pelayo told local reporters that he had previously been a fire victim, several months ago.
“My son gweyn da high school and everyting gaan fu ahn. Di only ting I manage fu save fu hihn da ih laptop weh ih grandma give ahn, my gyal computa and couple clothes. Everything weh wih just get gaan,” he said. “We just had a faiya couple months ago. Fu we main [house] just mi bun down da back deh bout 5 months ago, and da why we build dis lee thing fu stay eena, bikaa we prepare fu mek di next house weh we di build. And now dis one gaan down,” Pelayo further said.
Three children – an 8-year-old son, a 10-year-old daughter, and a 13-year-old son – resided at Pelayo’s home along with himself and his wife. Meanwhile, a 4-year-old toddler boy reportedly lives with Brittney, but was not at home when the flames gutted their home. Luckily, no one was hurt.
The estimated measurements for one of the structures was 15×15 feet, and the other, 15×20 feet. The estimated value of all that was destroyed is still unknown.
Pelayo believes that an overloaded circuit caused the fire.
“I feel like she had a lee waiya weh ih mi plug and forget fu pull out, kaa usually she deal with ih place; kaa she go da work 10 and deal with her spot, lock up and roll. She kohn home afta 2 o’clock and she tell me dat ih might have lef ih wiring plug in. I tell ahn, yo kaahn do anything bout it; ih done gone down; da wahn mistake bikaa yo neva mean fu left it, kaa yo always plug it out. Ih just slip ih mind da day,” he said.
The numbers to assist either victim are 625-5670 or 651-0450.