Like we said, the cause of the fire is not known as this time. But there are many more, equally pressing issues which the Fire Department has to answer. First, they responded a good many minutes after the fire is reported to have started. Second, they ran out of water. Today the Station Officer explained that time gap, and how they ended up having to draw water from a pool:...
Reporter
"You said 3:30am you guys got the call and responded, but the fire started from 2:45am."
Orin Smith, Station Officer
"Again, the national fire service - we really won't know when a fire actually starts. Our time starts when we received that information of the fire and then based on that our response time begins. However, on the scene, based on what you just said, I am sure that by the time they arrive on the scene they couldn't have been a rescue mounted, if the fire had in deed started that long ahead."
Reporter
"Residents or people in that area say that that the fire truck came out there and dispense the water that it had and then it had to leave. They could not continue with the firefighting until later on. It was a bucket brigade that had to get in there and actually help with stopping another house from catching fire. Any comment to that? I think they just feel like you guys did not do all that you could have done."
Orin Smith, Station Officer
"There are 2 units in San Pedro, these units in compare to what we have here in Belize City, are pretty much small. The combined of both trucks I think has an approximate 700 gallons. Out of 700 gallons, you have at least just over two and a half minutes firefighting, before the trucks have to leave the scene to find water supply and that is what have occurred. The open-sourced which was the sea, was quite a bit a distance away and I understand although they were at the scene in the initial phase, they had to change because the relay pressure at the scene was poor. They had to relocate to utilized swimming pool to assist and eventually bring the fire under control."
"During the overhaul phase of the operation, we discovered 4 bodies that was said to be missing earlier. We understand that there were 2 others injured. It is never something we want to see happened. But it happens."
"I would advise that the Belizean public could be more pro-active in the sense of having working smoke detectors in the home. The investigation into the fire has not yet concluded. The officers are still on the scene looking into the cause of the fire. Some are saying that a golf cart was involved. Of course, I cannot confirm or deny that. We are still waiting the outcome of the investigation."
Reporter
"Is it the worst fire tragedy that we've ever come across? Remember the one in Belama many years ago? That was 7 [died]. So, this is not the worst? It's certainly one of the worst."
Orin Smith, Station Officer
"It's one of the worst. In fact, I would not like to see another repeat itself in this manner."
The cause of the fire will be known later this week.
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