November, 2024 - Channel 5 Belize

Sunday Night Fire Destroys Freetown Home

Just before midnight on Sunday, an old two-story wooden house on Freetown Road was engulfed in flames. The owner had deemed it unsafe to live in months ago and moved out but allowed someone to stay on the first floor despite the lack of electricity. Tonight, the fire department is investigating to find out what caused the blaze. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

A wooden structure on Freetown Road went up in flames on Sunday night. This morning, we met the owner of the property at the location assessing the damage.

Maurice Francis, Fire Victim

“So far, I don’t know what happened. I was playing football at Berger Field yesterday evening. Then I went to my little spot where I hang out. Then early this morning I get a video, and it was blazing fire. I come down now and it was blazing fire.”

Francis explained that he grew up in the home and had to move out after the house almost fell during a hurricane.

Maurice Francis

“I was not living inside but I had someone staying here that watched the place for us. But I haven’t seen her or speak to her yet. So I don’t know what really went down. To me it is a great loss, because where I am at I am punishing and I was planning to come and get this place together right away and this is what happened. I was planning to just take a little bit and put it on the side so that I could stay in there. But now it is just too late.”

Paul Lopez

“And with everything destroyed you cant salvage any of it.”

Maurice Francis

“Can’t salvage no part of it.”

Fire personnel responded swiftly on Sunday night, but their efforts proved futile as the old wooden house was fuel to the fire. This afternoon fire personnel were back on the scene to conduct further investigation.

Gladstone Bucknor, Commander, Belize District

“We didn’t have electricity at the time. We had people living downstairs. The upstairs, at this time it is unknown if it was occupied.”

Reporter

“Have you managed to establish the cause of the fire as yet?”

Gladstone Bucknor

“At this time, we have a slight idea, but it is still under investigation to determine the fire. Compared to fire burner analysis it seemed to have started from the center of the home. The guys they did a really good job keeping it contained. As you can see to the rear, there is an abandoned structure. The guys are training twice a week, so they are really keeping up their training so this is the outcome we will have from here on.”

Without electricity on the property, those who occupied the home would have utilized candles.

Maurice Francis

“But I am not saying it is their malfunction. I am not pointing fingers on anybody. The house is a sore eye anyways. I am personally nuh like it, afraid of it, I was going to come back and take it down. I would ask the whole of Belize to support Mr. Magic Francis. They have my phone number, six, two, seven, five, three, zero, eight. Just call me and help out the superstar for Belize. I devote all my playing football and I don’t get nothing. I don’t beg nobody for nothing and this time I feel like I have to ask, because the bible say ask and it shall be given unto you.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

Belize City Streets in Bad Shape, St. Thomas Gets Some Love

The Belize City Council says it needs one point six million dollars to fix the damaged streets across the city, but they’re not sure where the money will come from. Today, Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner told News Five that it’s unlikely the council can raise these funds on its own, so they’ve asked the central government for help. Meanwhile, work has started on Saint Thomas Street, which was in terrible shape, just like the worst streets in the Old Capital. However, these repairs weren’t included in the council’s damage assessment report. Belize Telecommunications Limited and Belize Water Service are teaming up with the Ministry of Infrastructure Development & Housing to cover the repair costs. News Five’s Paul Lopez has more.

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Belize City streets are in terrible shape, as confirmed by a damage assessment report from the Belize City Council. The poor conditions have even sparked a viral parody that’s making the rounds. “Muffler mih a look…..bruk down pan street. Pit hole, on the road again. Yeah.”There’s finally a ray of hope for motorists navigating the streets of the Old Capital. Over the weekend repair works began on one of the city’s main thoroughfares, St. Thomas Street. It is a welcomed sight, according to one Belize City resident who lives nearby. He mentioned that he recently shelled out up to one thousand, one hundred dollars in vehicle repairs after hitting a pothole on the street.

Jorge Pelayo, Belize City Resident

“This street has been like this for quite some time, most of the streets in this area. But what gets to me is the time they take to fix the street; I had to take my vehicle to the mechanic and it cost me eleven hundred and eighty dollars for the parts and pay the mechanic. It is time they fix it, but I do hope they give us a good job and don’t give us a cover Benjamin.”

And, according to Mayor Bernard Wagner, the cost of the St. Thomas Street repairs is being covered through an innovative three-way agreement between B.T.L, B.W.S and M.I.D.H.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“Remember when that project started, I believe it was late last year. One entity was going to do it, and they pulled out. So we were left with a street that was basically dug out, so we collaborated with B.T.L, B.W.S and the M.I.D.H and us and what we did their in this instance is to offset trade license, property taxes, over a three year period so that it does not hurt the council in terms of its revenue. So, they would inject the funding to rehabilitate the street and thereafter we would offset what they inject over a three-year period. So, you kill two birds with one stone, you get the street fixed and you do not compromise the cash flow of the council in a one-year term.”

And works are already underway, with one side of the street almost completely resurfaced. But this is separate and apart from the one point six million dollars that the council estimates will need to repair damaged streets across the city.

Bernard Wagner

“Most of the damages we see are the streets that are not paved. The ones that have been paved have generally held up. The concrete ones held up generally one. So it is a clear indication that maybe it is time to go that route fully in terms of concrete or hot mix.”

Paul Lopez

“Your city admin says the money will come, where will the money come from?”

Bernard Wagner

“At the city level this is sort of next to a disaster or hurricane event. To us finding the capital would be highly unlikely. So, we had to send a request to the M.I.D.H and the Ministry of Finance to see how they could assist us, and we are not asking for funding. We are asking to assist with the material.”

Paul Lopez

“What do you say to residents that don’t necessarily care for the financial deliberation to be made, they just want the streets fixed.”

Bernard Wagner

“My thing here is that taxes has to be paid, property taxes has to be paid. We are owed over thirty million dollars by property owners across this country. So, you can’t be on one side saying you want decent streets but you don’t pay your taxes. We know in some areas they have close to eighty ninety percent compliance. We have a tool we utilize with respect to compliance. if you at the city level is owed close to thirty million, that is a clear indication as to where we sit.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

CitCo Imposes Measures on Utility Companies That Damage Streets

The Belize City Council has reestablished its Utility Coordination Unit. Utility companies often get blamed for leaving streets in worse condition after working on their infrastructure. This unit will oversee these projects to ensure that when a utility company digs up your street, they leave it as good as they found it, if not better.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“We want to continue urge our utility entities; we have a good relationship. We have put together the Utility Coordination Unit. I sent out letters last week for those utility providers to have representatives on that committee and that committee is established by law. You have that committee which vets, to say that utility company will go on Penn Road to do works on their infrastructure, they will then send in an application to that utility coordination unit, they ten vet it and sign off on it to ensure there is some measure of accountability and at the completion of the world that the utility company would do they would be held responsible to put it back where it was before.”

Anthony Mahler Mundialito Back for 2024 Closing Season

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The Inter-office Basketball Leagues is winding down with its 2024 finals series. Tuff E Nuff is taking on Police in a best-of-five series for all the marbles. The first game of the series was played on Friday night inside the Belize City Civic Center. Tuff E Nuff played in their signature black jerseys while team Police wore black and white.

Griffith, big on the inside with the first two points of the match for Tuff E Nuff. Moments later, Belisle at the other end with a huge three-point shot and he draws the foul. Belisle would go on to miss the free throw. Tuff E Nuff went into the second quarter with a double-digit lead, securing twenty-points in the first quarter to their opponents’ ten points.Rivers using his size advantage to get inside and make the layup for Police. Late in the second quarter, Brown, for Police, exploits a weakness in Tuff E Nuff’s defensive lineup to get the layup and the foul. He went to the line and made the free throw. Team Police scored twenty points in the second quarter, to their opponents’ fifteen points. So, the first half ended with a score of thirty-seven to thirty, in favor of Tuff E Nuff.

After the halftime break, Tuff E Nuff came out of the locker room with fire in their eyes and ice in their veins. Valley with the long range three, extending his team’s lead.Rowland late in the third quarter worked his way through Ramos and Augustine managed to get the ball into the bucket over an airborne Williams. Rowland again, this time from the three-point line with another big shot for Tuff E Nuff. He finished his third quarter run with a fast break from the other end of the court that translated into a layup on the buzzer. Tuff E Nuff won game one with a score of seventy-two points to team Police’s fifty-five points. Game two will be played on Friday.

From basketball we move into some football action. One of the most anticipated football tournaments in the city, the Anthony Mahler Under Thirteen Mundialito Tournament, is back with its 2024 closing season. We were out at Berger Field on Saturday to catch two of the four matches played. The first was between Ebony Lake and Reality Youths. The match ended one goal to zero, in favor of Ebony Lake. It was an auto goal caused by miscommunication between the goalkeeper and his teammate. That one went in off a header from a Reality Youths player. But a goal is a goal, and a win is a win.

And the second matchup we covered was between the opening season’s sub champions, the Ladyville Rising Stars and Phoenix F.C. This one quickly swung in the Rising Star’s favor with this kick in front of the goal from Nigel Hulse at the fourth minute.Here in the second period Kent Noralez gets the assist inside the penalty box, and he makes it count. Another beautiful play here from Rising Stars as the ball is placed for Noralez off the head of his teammate. That’s goal two for Noralez. He finished the match with a hat-trick. Ladyville Rising Stars won the game, six goals to zero.

And finally in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday, a delegation from Belize traveled to Playa Del Carmen last week to compete in the eighth Copa de Revolucíon Games in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Let’s look at some of the results from that tournament. In Shot Put, Gina Tejeda secured a gold medal.

In the open male one-hundred-meter dash, Fred Usher Junior secured the gold medal with a new competition record of ten point thirty-seven seconds. Usher also won the silver medal in the two-hundred-meter sprint. Donovan Grinage Junior secured two silver medals, one for Long Jump and the second for Shot Put.

In the under eighteen female races, Nyasha Harris displayed dominance in the one hundred and two-hundred-meter dash. Harris won gold in both races. Jaeden Williams added to the gold medal victories with a win in the under-fifteen long jump and one-hundred-and-fifty-meter race. In total the delegation brought home sixteen medals, including six gold medals, seven silver and three bronze medals.

Well folks that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.

6-y-o Injured in Corozal Shooting

A 6-year-old was injured during a shooting on Pine Street in Corozal Town on Saturday.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero confirmed that two people, identified as Glen Suazo and a six-year-old child, were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. “They received injuries. They were treated and thereafter released from the hospital,” Romero stated.

According to reports, shots were fired and when police arrived at the scene they found that bullets had penetrated the victims’ house.

The investigation is still ongoing, and no arrests have been made. The motive has not been established.

Fire Investigators Have “Slight Idea” of what Caused the Fire

Fire officials continue to investigate a fire that destroyed a wooden house on Freetown Road in Belize City on Sunday night.

The house had reportedly been in poor condition for some time.

News 5 spoke with Gladstone Bucknor, Officer Commanding of the Fire Department in Belize District, for an update on the situation.

“We had a structural fire, a two-story building that actually burnt down,” Bucknor said. “It didn’t have electricity at the time. There were people living downstairs. The upstairs is, at this present time, unknown if it was occupied.”

While the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, Bucknor said they have “a slight idea” of what may have caused it. Initial findings suggest the fire “seems to have started in the centre of the building.”

Bucknor confirmed that the two residents living on the ground floor lost everything in the blaze and added that the building wasn’t insured.

As we have reported, resident 32-year-old Brandon Daniels and his family were away when the fire started.

We also spoke to Maurice Norman Francis, who says he is the owner. He said, “I get a video that the house is on fire. Then I try to make it here as fast as I can.” Francis explained that he had not been living in the house for several years. “When the hurricane came, the house was weak. It was badly damaged,” he said. He added that he had planned to return and renovate the property, but the fire destroyed it before he could.

Francis, who has been staying elsewhere, said someone was watching the house, but he had not spoken to them yet to understand the full details of what happened. According to Francis, the house was not connected to electricity. He said candles might have been used in the house for light, although he did not suspect any bad intention.

Francis is seeking support from the public after the devastating loss. He can be contacted at 627-5308.

COP29 President: “We are on a road to ruin.”

In his opening remarks as COP29 President, Mukhtar Babayev of Azerbaijan stressed the urgency of addressing climate change, citing that current policies could lead to 3°C of global warming—levels that he described as catastrophic. He stressed that climate impacts are already being felt globally, from flooding in Spain to wildfires in Australia, and underscored the need for more than just compassion or hopeful promises.

He warned, “We are on a road to ruin,” adding, “People are suffering in the shadows; they are dying in the dark,” so “we need much more from all of you.”

The COP29 presidency is built on two central pillars: enhancing ambition and enabling action. Babayev outlined Azerbaijan’s commitment to securing a fair, ambitious climate finance goal, emphasising that developed countries must provide substantial financial support to address the pressing needs of developing countries, particularly small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs).

Babayev also highlighted critical areas for action at COP29, including operationalising Article 6 on carbon markets, increasing adaptation finance, and advancing technology transfer. He pointed to the need for robust Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and adaptation plans, which are essential for achieving the global climate goals.

Babayev called for collective commitment and reminded delegates of the world’s anticipation for decisive action. He urged them to move forward in solidarity, reinforcing that every action and every fraction of a degree matters in the fight against climate change.

Belize is Optimistic about COP29

Spirit Airlines Flight to Haiti Diverted After Reported Gunfire Strike

A Spirit Airlines flight en route to Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was diverted on Monday after reportedly being struck by gunfire. The aircraft, carrying passengers to Toussaint Louverture International Airport, safely landed in the Dominican Republic, and authorities reported that a flight attendant was grazed by a bullet during the incident.

The airline has not yet issued a comment on the event. Following the reported gunfire, authorities grounded all commercial flights at the airport in Port-au-Prince, and flight tracking showed JetBlue and Amerijet cargo planes diverting away from Haiti.

This marks the second known incident in recent weeks involving gang-related gunfire impacting aircraft over Port-au-Prince. Last month, a United Nations helicopter was struck, although it safely returned without injuries. Violence and instability have increased in the city since politically connected gangs mounted an insurrection in March, leading to widespread disruption, including a prison break, airport closure, and city lockdown.

In response to the deteriorating security situation, Haiti’s transitional presidential council has appointed Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, an entrepreneur and former Senate candidate, as the country’s new prime minister. Fils-Aimé replaces Garry Conille, who was dismissed following a politically tumultuous term since his appointment in May.

Belizean BDF officers Arrive in Haiti to Support Multinational Security Mission

Tropical Wave in the Caribbean Could Develop into a Storm

The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) is closely monitoring an area of disorganised showers and thunderstorms in the central Caribbean Sea, south of Hispaniola. The system is expected to move slowly westward over the next few days.

The NHC reported that “environmental conditions appear conducive for gradual development,” giving the system 50% chance of development in the next seven days.

Forecasters say it could form later this week or over the weekend. If it strengthens, it could become Tropical Storm Sara.

CARICOM and AOSIS Demand Urgent Action at COP29

As nearly 200 countries gather for COP29, the latest United Nations climate summit, delegates from the Caribbean region are particularly attuned to the urgent needs and demands of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). These vulnerable nations, disproportionately affected by rising sea levels, extreme weather, and biodiversity loss, are advocating for stronger global commitments to mitigate climate impacts and ensure adequate climate financing.

The summit, which is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, aims to evaluate progress under the Paris Agreement—a 2016 global accord that seeks to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Despite years of negotiations, the world remains on track for a temperature increase of more than 3 degrees Celsius without more substantial emissions reductions.

SIDS and AOSIS, whose very existence is threatened by unchecked warming, have voiced growing concerns about the lack of urgent action and the insufficient pace of funding for climate adaptation.

Last week, Minister of Climate Change, Orlando Habet, told News Five, “One of the main focus areas for COP 29 will be financing and the one hundred billion that was promised some years ago finally accordingly reached in 2022. But we are looking for a much more than that the top is in the trillions of dollars.”

Belize is Optimistic about COP29

Habet, who will lead delegations for both AOSIS and CARICOM, explained that the new collective quantified goal aims to hold developed countries accountable for their commitments under the Paris Agreement, which requires them to finance climate initiatives in developing nations.

Habet noted that COP28 saw the approval of the Loss and Damage Fund, valued at over $400 million. At COP29, the goal is to increase this funding significantly. According to Habet, COP29’s president has committed to prioritising this scaling effort within the first week of negotiations, providing a crucial opportunity for delegates to influence the outcomes at the negotiating table.

SIDS’ representatives are expected to press for clear commitments from major emitters to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions and honour climate finance pledges. Many are calling for high-emitting nations to allocate larger shares of funding to climate adaptation projects—efforts essential for small islands facing extreme weather, food and water insecurity, and forced displacement. A recent U.N. report also highlighted that 2023 marked the highest greenhouse gas emissions ever recorded globally, underscoring the need for immediate action and ambitious new commitments at COP29.

This year’s COP is seen as critical for SIDS, as they seek to shape a climate response that adequately addresses their unique vulnerabilities. Whether or not major economies rise to the challenge, SIDS will continue to advocate for a fair and robust global framework—one that recognizes their needs and holds high-emitting countries accountable for their role in driving climate change.