by Kristen Ku
BELIZE CITY, Wed. May 3, 2023
Belizeans were horrified and heartbroken when they learned on Tuesday that a young mother and her two children had perished in a blaze that consumed the home in which they had been living on Antelope Street — the most recent of a seemingly unending series of fires that have been razing a number of houses in the city and causing unspeakable loss.
The flames that would later become a deadly fire reportedly began to burn the house just after 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, while 22-year-old Adriana Lord and her children — a 3-year-old toddler and a two-month-old infant — were inside.
It has been reported that Lord and the children found themselves cornered in a room with no windows in the back of the wooden house, and were overwhelmed by smoke and heat and flames. Lord was unable to make an escape, and, it appears, made every effort to shield her kids.
Other residents of the neighborhood began to notice the flames and gather outside, and soon members of Lord’s family were also at the scene. At that point, they reportedly could hear Lord’s cries coming from inside the house.
As they waited for firefighters to arrive, neighbors attempted to rescue Lord themselves but were met with the tremendous heat from the flames, and they found that there was no window or other opening in the room that would have been a means of exit for Lord and the kids.
“Investigation went on to reveal that the first responding team, which was the neighbors and nearby residents of the area indeed heard the cries coming from the structure; however, attempts to reach them were futile as the building had already been consumed by heat, fire, and smoke. It’s an unfortunate situation because, regardless of how these untrained firemen tried to make an attempt to enter the building, and then the trained fire-fighters arrived on the scene, even with the amount of smoke emanating from the building, we ourselves couldn’t make a successful attempt into the building,” explained Station Supervisor of the National Fire Service, Kenneth Mortis.
Lord and her two children thus perished in the blaze, which completely destroyed the home, leaving behind only charred remains on the scene, which neighbors say were a visible indication of where she had been holding on to her kids.
Horror, disbelief, and pain were visible on the faces of a host of family members of Lord who stood and wailed just outside the home, as forensic personnel, firefighters, and police inspected the remains of the bodies and the home. It was a sight that brought tears to the eyes of reporters, police officers, and firefighters alike, at an emotional moment when there weren’t yet any answers to any of their questions.
One relative of the deceased, known as “Bunny”, told reporters that he has no idea what could have caused the fire.
“When I come down the stretch and see my family house di burn, all ah we come. The fire claim lee lives and thing; family members got loss and we have to try cope with right now. And as you can see, my family right dehn still di try process this whole thing. But we noh know weh create that fire deh soh, but it mess up lotta lives,” said Bunny.
After carrying out an initial investigation, however, the National Fire Service has indicated that the fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring in the home, and the fire spread quickly and uncontrollably due to the age of the wooden bungalow.
Station Supervisor Mortis said it is possible that the trio may have passed away due to smoke inhalation and not due to contact with the flames; however, a postmortem examination is still being conducted on the bodies.