7 News Belize

Belmopan’s Fire Truck Woes
posted (July 2, 2019)
Smith also told us more about the fire at a Belmopan boutique last week.

Everything inside Fashion and More was burnt to nothing in a blaze that burned for hours. There was very little that the Capital City's Fire Department could do because it only has one truck.

Smith discussed the difficulties and the futility of lamenting it any further:

Orin Smith, Station Officer, National Fire Service
"Investigation revealed that the fire originated in the warehouse section or the rear of the boutique and the cause of the fire is electrical."

Reporter
"People mentioned that the truck arrived and it didnt have enough water. Are you able to shed some light on the fire trucks situation there in that City?

Orin Smith
"I will agree that for the capital city it shouldn't have just one truck, but that is all we can manage to put there for the time being. In reference to the water supply, that is a horse that is beaten so many times; it doesn't have flesh and I think even the dry bones have been broken up that it is beaten up so many times. A simple illustration is a glass of water. If you have one glass and you drink it up, will it take you one minute, thirty seconds or ten seconds or eternity to finish drinking that one glass of water? The fire truck is no different. It has a small tank with a limited supply and when you start to discharge water from there, there is no way it can last forever."

Reporter
"With that particular tank in Belmopan, how long does it take to expend the very limited water resource it carries on board?"

Orin Smith
"They were discharging approximately three hundred gallons per minute were being discharged and that is a thousand gallon tank, so you have at least three minutes."

Reporter
"Sir, the bucket brigade, was that helpful in any way at all?"

Orin Smith
"For that size fire, no, ma'am. Water will be only in one point. So the water is only landing on one point. It seems production is only at that point and not filling the compartment itself. So, you have little steam production with little effects to the mass body of the fire itself."

Reporter
"Would it be a waste of time?"

Orin Smith
"Yes."

As you heard, Smith says he hopes they get an additional truck when the Capital gets a new station.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize