Fire burns City Resident’s home to the ground

A fire in Belize City on Tuesday morning gutted a wooden structure in the Belama Phase Four area. Shortly before nine on Labor Day, fire service personnel responded to a fire at the residence of Harry Zelaya on Green Street that was completely engulfed in flame. They immediately got into action and got the fire under control and after their investigations found out that it was negligence on the owner’s part that caused the inferno. Operations Officers of the National Fire Service, Benisford Matura told News Five about the fire.

Benisford Matura, Operations Officer, National Fire Service

“We encountered a sixteen by twenty wooden structure roughly five feet off the ground totally engulfed in flames. We got into operations and within half an hour time we got the fire under control.”

Duane Moody

“The entire place was destroyed?”

Benisford Matura

Benisford Matura

“The building was totally—when we arrived, it was already gutted by fire—totally destroyed yes.”

Duane Moody

“Your investigations have shown what to be the cause of the fire?”

Benisford Matura

“After extinguishing and the investigators got into the building and their analysis and fire patterns, we tracked that the fire started in the kitchen area and specifically the stove. Interviews from the owner, Mister Harry Zelaya, he stated that he was cooking and he left to go to body 200. Our investigations reveal that apparently he went and left the stove on—the stove was left unattended.”

Both the house and its contents were not insured. Matura says as a caution, residents should ensure that electrical appliances which are not in use are turned off.