Pinks Alley in the Fort George area of Belize City witnessed an epic fire in March of this year that left more than 50 people homeless. And yesterday, all that trauma came back when there was a fire at an apartment in the Alley. Fortunately, this one was much smaller and easily contained. Bu there's nothing easy about it for the family that got burned out. We spoke to the family about what happened. Sahar Vasquez reports:
Sahar Vasquez reporting
Yesterday afternoon before 2:00, Heston Young left his 2 children and wife at his apartment on Pinks Alley for a court appearance. But when he returned a fire was being put out at his apartment. A shocked and frightened Young scanned the yard and thankfully found his family standing outside. They were safe, but Young does not understand how this could have happened. The only conclusion he can come to is arson.
Heston Young, Resident
"I have my other brother who lives right behind me and he would come in here and use the bathroom, get water or do whatever he wants to do so I would just pull the door and tell my wife I pulled the door. And when I left for that moment where someone must have seen me go and I am not blaming anyone. I absolutely have nothing with anyone. I am not blaming anyone but what was done, somebody got it done."
"I ran here and when I reached I noticed that the whole spot was smoky and they already outed the fire. I know it is from the sofa it started because it is right here that the fire started. They pushed the door because they knew the door was opened. They knew it was not locked, it was just pulled."
His wife is left traumatized by the incident. She never expected to wake up to something like that. She doesn't know how she and her two sons made it out of the fire in one piece. She is still trying to come to grips with the loss.
Voice of: Dawn Hijinio, Resident
"I was sleeping and all I could remember that someone was shouting my name and when I got up I sat down on the bed because you know when you get up you're kind of out of it. I peeped through and I saw flames in the house so I grabbed my two children but I did not want to run through the fire because I was scared so the person who came to help me pulled me and my kids through the fire. He and some others then started to out the fire."
"To be honest with you at the moment I just felt like going and sitting on my bed and crying because I did not know how I would get through my door. So much fire was by the door. I don't know what I would have done. I just thank God me and my kids made it."
The lives of three people were spared but the damages done to the apartment are massive. The family lost all their basic household items:
Dawn Hijinio, Resident
"RIght now we don't even have any water. We have full a bucket and we only have one outlet that we are using for current. I don't know."
Heston Young, Resident
"Me and my woman are trying but now my sons don't have a TV, our fans got burnt, my sound system and my dj system that I use to do on the side. My speakers got burnt. My sofa got burnt. Everything got burnt."
Dawn Hijinio, Resident
"Miss I really need some help. I don't even know where to start or what to do."
If you would like to donate anything to the family you can call Young at 623-2711 or Hijinio at 605-3121.
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