Fire officials are still processing the scene at the Belize Aquaculture Ltd. shrimp farm which is about 4 miles in on the Placencia Road. As we told you, a fire broke out late yesterday afternoon inside their processing plant. Fortunately, it did not spread to the surrounding buildings and, more importantly, no one was hurt nor affected by the fumes. Courtney Weatherburne went down south to capture the aftermath. Here is that story.
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
The Belize Aquaculture Ltd. shrimp farm workers weren't taking any chances today; they wore masks and were on high alert patrolling and securing the premises.
The industrial blaze began around 3:00 yesterday afternoon inside the processing plant. They had their equipment as well as ammonia gas tanks inside but according to an employee, they only had a limited supply of gas and fortunately the tanks didn't explode. It is unclear where or how the fire started, but it burned through the night.
BAL did not grant on camera interview but they released a statement saying "Smoke was first observed coming from the south middle, but since the building had a ridge vent it is unclear from where the smoke was originating." The fire department sent out a release yesterday evening warning Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Villagers that if the poisonous vapour got to them they will have to evacuate. But fortunately it didn't affect the residents at all.
Rhon White, Santa Cruz Resident
"Approximately after 5 I was driving by and I saw them - smoke coming across from where the far was and I was coming down and I saw it. Was wondering if somebody had lighted a bush fire. The closer I got I saw that it was contained by the shrimp farm. I basically just saw smoke."
Reporter
"You didnt smell anything?"
Rhon White, Santa Cruz Resident
"Nothing was smelling and I had passed approximately about 200 yards."
Reporter
"Its safe to say that nobody here in Santa Cruz was affected?"
Rhon White, Santa Cruz Resident
"I dont think nobody here basically would be affected, because of the distance. I've passed close and it never affected me and the cars that were passing never got affected."
Felicita Madrid, Santa Cruz Resident
"Around 4pm I see the black smoke."
Reporter
"You didnt smell anything strange or you didnt feel sick or anything after smelling it or anything?"
Felicita Madrid
"I didnt smell anything."
Kenea Castro, Santa Cruz Resident
"I hear something and them say it was burning a lot of things and when I saw something in the sky, but I didnt smell anything."
Reporter
"You saw the smoke?"
Kenea Castro, Santa Cruz Resident
"I saw the smoke and today they were talking about that in school. The teachers were talking about that. Some doctors came to the school and check is something had happened to us. But nothing else."
Courtney Weatherburne
"Santa Cruz residents can literally breathe a sigh of relief now that that the fumes have vaporize before they could pose any threat and what could have been a major disaster was averted."
Fire officials say they will work up until 7:00 tonight and continue scanning the area tomorrow morning. At this time, they don't have anything concrete to say what caused the fire, only preliminary observations. In a release BAL sent out it states "The positive is that the hatchery and infrastructure including farms themselves are not affected so the production schedule planned to start in February will still go ahead as planned and shrimp can be grown." We will keep following this story.
Notably, the Fire Department told the media yesterday evening that quote, the "fire Involves unknown quantity of Ammonia & chlorine", end quote, but the employee that there was no chlorine in the processing plant.
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