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There was a fire this morning at the CB Hyde Government Building on Mahogany Street. It was a small fire but it its big news because the Complex Building, as it was formerly called, is the largest government building in the city with offices for the Immigration, Income Tax, Sales Tax, and Election and Boundaries Departments. This morning’s fire was confined to the Immigration Department. Keith Swift has the details.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This morning’s scare was inside this room which is the office of the Immigration Department’s Investigation Unit.

Therese Chavarria, Senior Immigration Officer
“There was an alarm of a fire and upon checking I noticed black smoke coming from the investigation section’s office. I made attempt to call 911 and they came and while on their way, we have officers who used our drinking water and managed to put the fire out.”

And by drinking water, she meant these 5 gallon bottles of purified water. Fire investigators say the cause of the fire was this AC unit which somehow malfunctioned his morning, even though it was turned off.

Kenneth Mortis, Fire Department
“We concluded this morning that the fire started as a short out from an exposed wiring from the compressor that led to the AC which was inside the building. What happened is that the exposed wiring made contact to wires and then from there the compressor sent it to the AC unit which was….even though it wasn’t turned on, but because the compressor had directly coils that is what happened this morning.”

It was a small fire that caused considerable damage to the ceiling and walls in the office. Files were also damaged, like this application form. But as terrible as it may look, the Immigration Department says most of the damage was from water. And more importantly, no passports were damaged.

Therese Chavarria,
“Our officers were calm and were able to secure our passports and use our water as I said and put the AC out.”

Keith Swift,
“So now passports were damaged?”

Therese Chavarria,
“No passports so far, they were all secured.”

Senior immigration officer Therese Chavarria says that as far as she knows, the AC unit
was in working condition.

Keith Swift,
“Was this an AC that was giving problems?”

Therese Chavarria,
“I am not sure. I know it was in working condition.”

Jose Sanchez, News 5
“Do you think that there should take a check of the other AC units in the building?”

Kenneth Mortis,
“They could. It would be an asset if they do that and that way they could prevent any further damages like what happened this morning. Lucky for them the damage was minor and the staff out the fire in time. You can probably say they extinguished the fire and we did the investigation.”

Reports are that the CB Hyde Building which houses 4 government departments didn’t have a fire extinguisher or at best, didn’t have one accessible at the time of the fire.

The Immigration Department in Belize City was closed for the day but will reopen tomorrow. Despite reports that employees at the Immigration Department did not have access to a fire extinguisher, the Fire Department says that they were told there is a fire extinguisher on each floor of the CB Hyde Building.