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An early morning fire gutted the upper story of the Belize Red Cross Headquarters and preliminary investigations suggest that the fire might have been the work of arsonists. 7 News spoke with the President of the Belize Red Cross who said the fire is a tremendous setback.

Lily Bowman, President, Belize Red Cross
"Record wise a tremendous setback because in some cases everything is gone regarding records. The outreach, the activities can continue because it's our people that go out there to do that. In a case like this of course we will all be set back for a while until we kind of settle in temporarily somewhere else, we clean up and we start plotting the way forward."

It couldn't come have come at a worse time, in the midst of the Red Cross outreach assistance program for those who suffered from the ravages of Hurricane Richard.

Lily Bowman, President, Belize Red Cross
"We have some programs that will be continuing especially in the disaster response for hurricane Richard and our disaster preparedness programs that we have been carrying out since October last year in Belize River Valley and in Cayo - those will continue this weekend actually, so those activities won't be hindered. Because we've lost alot of records that will be the setback trying to get back the history of those programs like for instance our HIV program that has lost everything, our first aid program - that has lost everything and our psycho social support and management area."

The loss is huge, the colonial structure that houses the headquarters of this globally recognizable institution is of historic value and was a gift from the Thurton family, made in 1982 by Sydney Thurton on behalf of his late sister Margaret Rebecca Thurton who devoted her life to the venerable institution. Today, the investigative arm of the Belize Fire Service was on site conducting their investigation into the cause of the early morning fire.

Michael Middleton, Operations Officer, Belize Fire Service
"We suspect that this fire was due to a malicious act, The reason why I say that is when we initially started the investigation right after extinguishing the fire, we did a search and we found that one of the louvers have been pried open on the eastern side of the building and in the same area we also found a container of lighter fluid and a screw driver which we believe was use to pry open the metal louvers then the ignitable source was sprayed in and the fire started, so we are leading towards the direction of a fire that was intentionally lit."

Jim McFadzean
"Lilly, any reason why anyone would want to set fire to an institution such as the Red Cross that has been at the forefront of providing for the needy?"

Michael Middleton, Operations Officer, Belize Fire Service
"Jim, that beats me and I guess that's the question that everybody is asking, why? all we do is help people. Everything we have in here is for the benefit of people, our vulnerable people, those that are in need. If they were trying to break in here to get something, they would have broken here to get the same things that we would be giving them anyway. Yes we have equipment and so forth, but all we do is alleviate suffering anywhere it's found so it's like cutting off the hand that feeds you."

"Despite this major setback, the Belize Red Cross says it will still host the annual senior citizens dinner on December 15th and its annual Christmas party for kids at the St. Mary's Auditorium on December 16th. Reporting for Seven News, I'm Jim McFadzean.

Damage to the structure is expected to exceed more than a quarter million dollars and that estimate does not include the loss of equipment and records.

Damage to the structure is expected to exceed more than a quarter million dollars and that estimate does not include the loss of equipment and records.