7 News Belize

FIRE SWARMS GLENN STREET
posted (January 17, 2018)
Early this morning a fire tore through Glenn Street in Belize City destroying three homes. No lives were lost but quite a few of the residents are now left without a home to live in.

Today we went to the scene and spoke to some of those affected.

Sahar Vasquez reporting
Eight families were left homeless in the early morning blaze, their prized possessions and the place they once called home now scattered among the sea of ashes.

The fire started at an abandoned house on Glenn Street and then spread to two other adjacent structures, completely destroying them, while two more houses sustained water damage.

Jenny Trapp's house was almost burnt to the ground too, but firemen were able to save it before the flames reached. To do that they had to take the hose into her house.

Voice of: Jenny Trapp, Resident
"When the firefighters were outing the house the fire was coming to this side. When they were outing the house they said they don't want any more houses to catch on fire so they went in my house through the window and they started to out the house from there because if they did not out it my house would have caught on fire."

Sahar Vasquez, reporter
"Did your house sustain any damage?"

Voice of: Jenny Trapp, Resident
"Yes, water damage from the hose. My whole house is messed up and some fire things are in the house. All kinds of things. The sofa set and everything is messed up."

Sahar Vasquez, reporter
"So the hose Kind of wet everything up?"

Voice of: Jenny Trapp, Resident
"Yes wet everything up."

Even though her house sustained a lot of water damage Jenny Trap still feels extremely thankful that her house was spared.

Sahar Vasquez
"But for you was it worth it seeing as though it saved your house?"

Voice of: Jenny Trapp, Resident
"Yes, I Thank God because me and my two kids, well it is only us right now so Thank God because I don't want to start over again."

Unfortunately, not all residents were as lucky as Trapp. For Rutilo Villanueva and Anastasia Conorquie all is lost. They saw the fire when it started and never thought that it would make it to their home.

They are both frustrated because they feel it could have been avoided if the fire department did not run out of water.

Rutilio Villanueva, Resident
"Well last night our neighbour came and woke us up. When I got up the first house was on fire. We got out and tried to escape because the fire was already big. We tried to take out what we could but we couldn't."

"They could have controlled the fire from there to avoid other houses getting burnt but then the truck ran out of the water and then from then they took another hour to get water from the canal. It was from then that the fire spread and they couldn't control it anymore."

Anastasia Conorquie, Resident
"The thing started at one house so they could have at least tried to out that one. They came and then no water. We offered to help them with buckets of water. The police they pushed us up and said we can't use any buckets because nobody is supposed to be around the fire. Well if you all have no water we should be able to take matters into our own hands and help."

Conorquie and Villanueva are just two of the victims in a total of 28, and for them, they have to start the painful process of rebuilding their lives.

Ruitilio Villanueva, Resident
"I lost everything ma"am. Everything. I don't have anything right now only this suit of clothes I have on me right now. Yes, ma"am."

Sahar Vasquez
"Did you live there by yourself?"

Rutillo Villanueva, Resident
"No, ma'am. I lived with my entire family. Upstairs and downstairs."

Sahar Vasquez
"So you lived with Mr. Villanueva?"

Anastasia Conorquie, Resident
"No, I live upstairs at my father in law."

Anastasia Conorquie, Resident
"No I was sleeping with my kids and then someone came and knocked on my door. She told me that there was a fire and I needed to get up. I said that I don't need to get up because that other house is far so our house won't get burnt. When I went back to my bed my brother in law came up and grabbed me and told me lets go. The downstairs is already on fire. Everything is gone. No pampers. No nothing. Today all I could have buy is two medium pampers for a dollar. Everything is gone. I just went to borrow clothes from my sister. We do not have anything."

Anastasia Conorquie, Resident
"All I could have done was grab my kids and left. One has on socks right now and the next one doesn't have anything but what he has on."

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