Fire Destroys Sleeping Quarters at B.D.F. Camp  

On Thursday, a fire at Price Barracks completely gutted the sleeping quarters of a senior noncommissioned officer. The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical malfunction, as the building has been in poor condition since it was damaged by a hurricane. Colonel Anthony Velasquez, Deputy Commander of the B.D.F. told us that the building was primarily used for storage, no one was injured in the incident.

 

Colonel Anthony Velasquez, Deputy Commander, B.D.F.

“Last night at about eleven p.m. a fire started at the senior noncommissioned officer’s barracks. The fire originated near the room of the force sergeant major who is the senior enlisted person in the Belize Defense Force. The fire was contained and completely out by eleven forty-five and that occurred with the assistance of the Ladyville Fire Service.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Was anybody injured in the fire?”

 

Colonel Anthony Velasquez

“No one was injured at all in the fire. No one was in the building at the time. The building is a senior noncommissioned officer barrack that was damaged by a hurricane last year. And repairs haven’t been done completed at this time. No one was actually in the building at the time, and the damage occurred was confined to mostly about two rooms. So the room of the four sergeant major and an adjacent room everything was destroyed in both rooms. And there’s an electrical hazard in the area as well. And also the fire service this morning is conducting their investigation to determine the cause of the fire.”

 

Britney Gordon

“So the speculation is that it was an electrical fire or is something else?”

 

Colonel Anthony Velasquez

“That’s the assumption at this point in time until the investigation is over that some sort of electrical fire.”

 

Britney Gordon

“So you mentioned that this room was the barracks, but in the video we can hear the sound of ammunition going off. Can you talk about that situation?”

 

Colonel Anthony Velasquez

“From my point of view, it wasn’t ammunition. It was cans of food. That were that were popping open during the fire itself?”