There was only one fire truck working and only two fire men on duty. When they arrived at the scene, they found an unoccupied two storey wooden structure on fire. The bad part was that it was surrounded by other wooden buildings - which was a recipe for the disaster that unfolded. The fire truck quickly expended the 300 gallons of water it had in the tank, and then had to activate mobile pumps to source water from the sea. That's more than 15 minutes down time - which is when the fire quickly spread. We spoke to the Fire chief today about what went wrong, and what was unavoidable:..

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"On arrival they found the structure fully engulfed in flames. The structure belonged to August Tabony, and is located in the middle of the block between Barrier Reef and Pescador Drive. The department went into operation, exhaust its tank of water and then seek supplementary water supply and tried to contain the fire. At the conclusion of firefighting there were 11 structures that suffered major fire damage and six other structures that suffered external fire damage on the wall that was exposed to the fire area. The exact area of origin and cause of the fire is still undetermined as we have an investigator working out there to try to establish the exact area and cause of the fire within that structure. We also learnt that the structure was unoccupied at the time of the fire."

Jules Vasquez
"Is there any indication that it may have been a case of someone setting the fire?"

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"It's a little too early to say, Mr. Vasquez, whether it is incendiary or accidental or any other nature."

Jules Vasquez
"The spreading from one structure eventually engulfing 11 other structures, is this a failure of the fire department? We know we saw that citizens had to do a bucket brigade."

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"The location and type of structure is very congested, it's quite a challenge for the department out there. The department worked hard with the civilians who came out and we must thank them all but the location of the fire created quite a challenge for any fire department to contain."

Jules Vasquez
"Was there a continuous supply of water? You said that the tank expended its supply. I know that there's only a finite supply which the fire engine itself is able to carry. Was there a smooth, efficient, effective transition to pump water?"

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"In the initial stage of any fire, that is impossible, because we don't have the quantity of trucks, this is Belize we're living in. we cannot send 6-7 trucks out there where 3-4 trucks get into operations and 2-3 trucks look in for supplementary water supply. That is not what will happen in Belize in your lifetime or mines. The reality is that we have trucks out there, we have portable pumps, when the truck goes into operation. it only carries 300 gallons of water, it can do one of things, to seek supplementary water immediately and leave the fire let it burn, which you will hear we came empty, or go into operation, exhaust your 300 gallon of water and then seek supplementary supply, which we'll take from the sea along with your portable pump which will take a few minutes to get into operations. Long and short, it's not an easy task, it's a difficult task, and there can never be consistent flow in the initial stages, no way with the state of the fire service today nor tomorrow in Belize."

Jules Vasquez
"So ultimately, the fire spread, because the fire department is just set up for a little island town and its under-resourced?"

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"It would be more ideal to have more equipment Mr. Vasquez."

Jules Vasquez
"But in the 21st century on the island that generate the most foreign exchange earnings for Belize per square mile, isn't it ashamed that we have to resort to a bucket brigade?"

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"I am not aware of any bucket brigade, I know we had a portable pump. You and I know that bucket can do very little to a fire."

Jules Vasquez
"That happened last night, we have the pictures."

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"Yes, but the bucket itself can do very little, how close can you get with that bucket even with the fire kit you can't get close, and it's designed for that."

Jules Vasquez
"So you are saying those people out there were wasting their time?"

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"You're saying it not I. every little that you can get in a time of disaster is important, every little help that you can get. What I would like to do now is to appeal to the San Pedroanians, they will come out and help the fire department but what I'd ask them to do is to please come and receive some training, join the voluntary element at the fire department."

Jules Vasquez
"With the location of the fire and the situation on the ground being that it was in a residential area with apartments, with businesses, it's a multipurpose area. Is it fortunate that no one was hurt in that fire?"

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"First of all we want to thank God that no one was hurt."

Jules Vasquez
"The report say that there are over 80 people homeless and apart from being homeless there's the major loss of property and all the finance that represents. These people blame your department Mr. Smith."

Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"You're blaming our department Mr. Jules, I was out there and I didn't hear anyone blaming the fire department, but you are the one blaming the fire department."

Smith says that with the location of the wooden structure where the fire started, even if the Fire Department had a headstart, they would not have been able to contain the fire. Two more fire fighters will be assigned for the island. The island has two fire trucks but only one was working the mechanic was scheduled to do repairs on the second one today. The newest fire truck in the Department's fleet is 16 years old - and there are more than two, which are over 40 years old. A new truck costs about three quarter million dollars.