And that loss of life is the real tragedy in this costly blaze. Property can be replaced or rebuilt, but Jacqueline Arteaga's life cannot be returned. There are many questions surrounding her death in that apartment atop a nightclub. Today, Daniel Ortiz tried to find answers:
Daniel Ortiz Reporting
At 9 this morning, 5 hours after started, the Fire Department was still on the scene trying to ensure that the fire was completely extinguished.
Police blocked off the section of Barrack Road in front of the remains of the buildings. Investigators from both the fire and police departments were on the scene until 4:30 this evening, still canvassing for evidence.
Important evidence, important because in this fire, a person perished inside the burning wreckage of Kimmie's Bar.
21 year-old Jacqueline Arteaga was inside one of the rooms in the upstairs flat of the building, and when the blaze engulfed the entire structure, she was trapped. She was the only person out of 4 who didn't make it out in time.
One of the first responders claims that he tried to help, but the police officers controlling the scene stopped him.
Voice of: First Responder - Tried To Render Aid
"We saw this lady shouting for help, so I was trying to help her. At the same time, you had the fireman and the police who were on the crime scene. They were around, and I was trying to assist also. The policemen told me to move out of the way to allow the firefighters and the officers do their jobs.
Voice Of: Merlyn Moreira - Owner, Kimme's Bar
"When we came by the front of the building, we heard Jacky, because we were still shouting for her. We heard her begging for help. We told her to jump out of the window, but she never did it."
Voice of: First Responder - Tried To Render Aid
"I saw struggling and based on the outside, when she did notice that the building was on fire, I tried to convince her to go to the side of the building which hadn't caught on fire as yet. Most of these buildings around here have burglar bars on the top and the bottom. It was difficult, but at the same time, I was trying to help. There was a fireman, he - he was very weak for a fireman. He had a cutter, and he was trying to cut one of the locks, but he fell down because of the amount of smoke and heat. So, I took away his cutter and cut the lock to allow entry into the house. Now, they were looking at me like I was a thief, but I was trying to help people. The police started to chase me away, probably thinking that I wanted to steal, but that wasn't even on my mind. What was on my mind was to help everybody to get out."
Daniel Ortiz
"In your mind, this lady could have been saved?"
Voice of First Responder
"She could have been saved."
But the Fire Department says that no one informed them that Arteaga was trapped inside, so they couldn't take steps to try to save her.
Benisford Matura - Operations Officer, National Fire Service
"Upon arrival no one had informed us that someone was in there. About midway during fire-fighting I guess the proprietor for Kimmie's Bar informed the Police, and that's how we were told that somebody was in there. But upon arrival our fire-fighters did not hear and nobody informed them that somebody was trapped in Kimmie's Nightclub, the upper floor. At the point that we were informed that someone was in the house, the entire Kimmie's Bar had already been engulfed, and already burnt down. We started a search in the lower flat of Kimmie's, and I would say that about half hour into our search, we found the remains."
The remains Matura was referring to were Arteaga's; she was the only casualty inside Kimmie's. But the reality is that two other business places took extensive damage from this fire. One of them was Pandora's Café, the other Business Computer System's Limited, which was completely destroyed.
Lourdes Smith - Owner, Business Computer Systems
"We first got a call from the Security Company to advise us that the alarms in 4 zones went off, and we thought that extremely strange. So, they were coming to check, and we got a call back that the building next to our building was on fire. So, they called us back and told us that our building was start to catch fire too. So, we just came down from Burrell Boom. By the time we got here, the first building was completely gone and our building was like maybe half to three-quarter burnt. The fire engines were here - two of them - one of them was not activated at all, the other one was here but nobody was pouring water on the building. And we were told that they took long in getting here and I mean I drove all the way from Boom here and I get here and they still didn't start to spray water yet. I think that probably some properties could have been saved had they been able to mobilize quicker."
And Smith is just one of the many observers with consistent complaints that Fire Department didn't conduct this firefight efficiently."
Martin Castillo - First To Call Fire Station/Police
"I did my civic duty. I went out, and I called. They're on their way, and I looked at them - good grief, 45 minutes."
Voice Of: Merlene Moreira - Owner, Kimmie's Bar
"They took like 15 minutes to come here, and we are disappointed because the truck didn't give enough water, and the pump stopped like 2 times. The fire caught onto the next houses, which maybe could have been saved if they did the job better."
The Operations Officer's response is that the observers were speculating, and they were very much mistaken.
Daniel Ortiz
"To be frank with you, sir, there were some persons who were criticising the department saying that if you guys had operated efficiently, you would have been able to contain the fire better and that, as I am describing, mistakes were made. Do you accept that that could have happened and the situation could have been handled better?"
Benisford Matura
"That would be in their opinion. Our fire fighting - what we are doing, we are operating at the best of our ability with the circumstances. For example, like I told you, the wind was heavy. We all know that we were by the seaside, and the 2 structure, if you know how it was before, were 2 old wooden structures. Belizean people would describe them as 'biscuits". So, when they got engulfed, it was a real fire fight. It was intense heat. This the only time I didn't see a lot of civilians right up close because of the heat. If it wasn't that hot, you would have seen a lot of civilians right up close, and in our way."
Arteaga's family declined comment. According to the nightclub proprietor – she had been working there for about a month and a half– and that's when she went to live upstairs.
All the witnesses to the fire who tried to help Arteaga say that she refused to jump out of the window saying that she was pregnant and didn't want to hurt her unborn child. We're told that with this pregnancy, she would have had 3 children.
And back to the point of the criticism of the Fire Department on how they handled this blaze, the Operation's Officer says that they got a call about the fire at 4:37 a.m. He says that they arrived at the scene 4 minutes later. He noted that the wind blowing in from the sea posed a particular difficulty. He adds that a lot of what the civilians claim to be ineffective management of the fire is caused by misinformation as to how their system works.
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