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Daniel Ortiz reporting
Today, in the Boca Del Rio area, cleaning crews were already at work trying to clear away the substantial amount of debris left behind in yet another block burner that has devastated residents of San Pedro.

Walking around the area of destruction, there were mostly small wooden posts still standing. Their scorched surfaces told the tale of 7 homes which used to be here, but which were completely destroyed. 3 structures survived blaze, but for the most part, those homes were also gutted by the flames.

On Saturday morning, minutes after midnight, all 10 houses caught on fire at this location. The flames spread from their initial source - which is still to be determined - and minutes later, it became an inferno which consumed almost everything its path.

87 people are now homeless; their belongings were completely destroyed. Thankfully, though, everybody escaped the blaze unhurt.

But, there is still a lot of pain because these residents are now destitute, and some how, they must attempt to rebuild their lives from the ground up.

Amilcar Deras, one of the victims to this fire, invited us into what used to be his home, and an apartment complex he owned.

Reporter
"This property what was it before the fire."

Amilcar Deras - Fire Victim
"The property before the fire was half a million dollar the value."

Reporter
"How many people did you rent your place to?"

Amilcar Deras - Fire Victim
"15 apartment - 35-40 persons."

Deras tells us that he built the complex himself as a construction specialist. He estimates the value of his investment into this property at around 600 thousand dollars. In fact, less than 2 weeks ago, he was making improvements on it, like this verandah shelter, which looks practically new. It stuck out as unusual, one of the few parts of his house which the blaze didn't reach. That fire gave none of the 87 residents any warning when it struck:

Amilcar Deras - Fire Victim
"The fire started about 5 minutes. A person came to wake me up and we found out that the fire started one house behind mine."

Reporter
"Everybody's properties and all their possessions destroyed."

Amilcar Deras - Fire Victim
"Everything in the 10 houses were destroyed."

He is cognizant that rebuilding his investment here may take months or years. But, for the Charles Bennett, the patriarch of his family of 19, the nightmare has restarted. 4 years ago, Bennett and his family lost their homes in a block fire at this same location, where 66 people ended up homeless. He and his family rebuilt, hoping that misfortune would not strike at the same place twice. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened on Saturday morning:

Charles Bennett - Fire Victim
"I was sleeping and someone came and knocked on the door and then I came out. I didn't have a chance to take out anything. It just happened."

"Everyone was sleeping. I woke up everyone and took them out from the house. That's all I could have done for them."

Reporter
"Was there a lot of panic taking place due to this?"

Charles Bennett - Fire Victim
"Yes. A lot of people were trying to help to out the fire."

Bennett's son-in-law, Seferino Gilharry, was at work at that hour, and he had to rush home, only to find his family watching their home slowly burning down, along with the rest of his neighbors' houses.

Seferino Gilharry - Fire Victim
"I was at my job. They called me that the house was burning down again. The first time we didn't get any help from anyone. This time we will see if we will get some help, at least with some plywood, 2x4, zinc."

Reporter
"What's the first thing that comes to mind when you were told the house got burnt down a second time and we lose everything this time?"

Seferino Gilharry - Fire Victim
"I feel sad again, because the first time everything got burnt down for me and we lose a lot of money. Everything got burnt."

Reporter
"What have you been trying to do to keep yourself and to keep your family calm?"

Charles Bennett - Fire Victim
"All I do is set everyone and make them happy and do what I can do for them."

And that's exactly what the other neighbors are doing, trying to slowly pick up the pieces of their lives lying among the ashes.

Reporter
"Whats going to happen for you even to have a chance to build back this half a million dollar property?"

Amilcar Deras - Fire Victim
"It will be difficult and hard because most of the houses were no insured and right now I will see how God will help us to start over. Right now I have to go deal with the back tomorrow and see what happens and we will see how we can start over."

As you heard in the story, this exact area of Boca Del Rio is the same one that saw a massive fire 4 years ago, on July 6, 2014. At that time 66 persons from 16 families were affected; this time it's 87 people from 10 families.

Also, there was another block fire in June of 2016, between Pescador Drive and Buccaneer Street in which 27 families - a total of 88 people - were affected, some losing their homes, and their business places. Another 6 buildings were partially damaged by that fire.

And, of course, less than two months ago, on June 11, four people perished in a fire out on the island town - which has seen more fires and fire disasters than Belize City - which has three times the population - in recent years.