There was a fire on Kelly Street in Belize City today just before midday in which an entire family lost almost all their belongings. Luckily, a few of their neighbors were at home, and with the combined effort of the community, the fire was contained before it got completely out of hand. Still, the homeowners experienced significant water damage when the Fire Department arrived shortly after to snuff out the blaze completely.
Local Musician Gilbert Alamilla, better known as 'Mr. Program', lives in the area, and he was the first to be alerted by the children living at the house that a fire had started. Here's how he explained what happened next:
Gilbert Alamilla "Mr. Program," first responder
"I just came from Belize Bank and when I was coming in I noticed some flames in the back yard. When I came out I see people and I see the kids in front there crying. A little girl looked at me and yelled that the house is on fire. I got panicky and I ran back there and broke a water pipe (I don't want them to say that I broke their pipe and they charged me), and I ran back and got a bucket of water and started to threw it on the house. I saw the babies came out and I one trying to run back in the house, and so I ran back in thinking that somebody was in there too."
"When I ran in there, after like a minute or two when I looked back, I saw people running in. I start to tell everyone to full buckets and throw it at the house. I jumped on the fence and one of the neighbor from the back yard had a hose. He open the hose and we fill up the buckets and we tried to throw as much water as we could."
"Minutes after that, I saw a crowd of people coming, fire engine, police and by the time I came out I didn't realize that the entire street was already filled up with people. People came and tried to out the fire. We managed to calm it down to a certain extent and when the fire engine came, they finished off the blaze from the back yard."
We could not get the Fire Department for comment on what caused the fire.
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