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But more than a landmark, the Baptist Church is a community cornerstone - and that's why there is sadness tonight, because this morning before dawn there was not much that could be done to save the wooden structure. Jules Vasquez was there in the aftermath of the blaze:

Fuelled by a strong south easterly breeze, flames shot out into the pre-dawn skies above Queen Street this morning at 4:30.

Before 5:00 am - neighbors watched in terror and scrambled to gather their belongings as the fire danced against the night sky.

Lydia Blake - who lives across the street woke up at 4:45 and saw it:

Lydia Alpuche Blake, Resident
"I woke up around 4:30 and went to the bathroom and I smelled something burning like wire so I opened the window from the bathroom and I saw fire directly from my window to the back and I can see the smoke and fire coming out. I woke up all my kids and husband let's go, get up, there is a fire because it smelled strong, we ran down and saw Baptist school. When I came out the tenants up here, I told them to call somebody, call 911 and they came out hollering for everyone because the fire was blazing at the top floor of the school. At 4:45 one of the tenants had called the fire department."

Jules Vasquez
"And the fire department arrived when?"

Lydia Alpuche Blake, Resident
"After 5, 5:25 something like that I videoed when they arrived but it was blazing high."

Jules Vasquez
"What were those moments like? You are across the street a building is on fire and there is no one to fight it."

Lydia Alpuche Blake, Resident
"So I was thinking this building is old, so one spark and that gone, all my investments gone."

Jules Vasquez
"So you were frightened?"

Lydia Alpuche Blake, Resident
"Frightened? I started the bucket parade, started wetting, and calling out all neighbours to get their hose and wet up everything, just wet."

The Fire Department says they didn't get the call until 5:02 am:

Gladstone Bucknor, Station Officer, Belize District
"We received a call a little after five this morning. I will say about one to two past 5:00 this morning."

Jules Vasquez
"Well, there must be a breakdown, though, because, you know, Miss Blake is very specific in terms of the time that they called 911."

"Is there any known reason for the delay between when she says the call was made, and when you all actually received it?"

Gladstone Bucknor, Station Officer, Belize District
"Well, I cannot really say. what was the delay, per se. However, they called 911. Our number is 990. 911 is police, and 990 is fire department. So we received the call here at the station. At 5:01, 5:02."

They got out there at 5:21 according to residents - some who saw some streaming out from 4:30 am.

Gladstone Bucknor, Station Officer, Belize District
"The challenges that we had basically is wind, wind directions in that area and that you're in a very tight area."

"We contained it in that area and if you notice the northern section wall was still standing, the framework was still there. So the guys actually did a good enough job to to bring it down."

They also saved the school. Four firetrucks responded - including one from Ladyville and there were water challenges:

Jules Vasquez
"Did you all try to source water from the central bank, which does have a hydrant system?"

Gladstone Bucknor, Station Officer, Belize District
"Okay, we already, we had our hydrant right in front of Central Bank we were utilizing as well. Due to the number of vehicles that we have on the ground, we were searching for other means of water so we can have on the scene."

And when they sourced water from a nearby canal - the pump failed:

Jules Vasquez
"Was that one of the trucks having a problem with the pump not working?"

Gladstone Bucknor, Station Officer, Belize District
"Well, the truck that was at the open source, that the guys were utilizing, we brought in a mechanic to, to actually look at it, to see what, what was the problem."

Jules Vasquez
"And. So it wasn't working out there."

Gladstone Bucknor, Station Officer, Belize District
"Like I mentioned, it worked. Then have a mechanical issue, and then went down and went back up."

Failing equipment in the face of a raging fire:

Jules Vasquez
"How frustrating is this for you guys? I mean, you know everybody is always ready to blame the fire department. We know this. But also you can't take a knife to a gunfight. I mean, you all have to have suitable equipment to fight fires."

Gladstone Bucknor, Station Officer, Belize District
"Yes I agree. We need better equipment. And I believe that the ministry is actually looking into that at this present moment."

And while they probably couldn't; have saved the wooden structure, this reading teacher who had his classroom on the ground floor was deeply moved by the loss:

Steve Ozaeta, Teacher
"I love the place mein, I love this place. It's gone just like that mein. The one that will suffer most will be the ones who has reading difficulties because those are ones I dealt with, the ones that were behind I try to put them up to status that they need to be, where they need to be in the curriculum and for the class level. So those are the ones that will be left until we get this sort out."

Pastor Lloyd Sandford has been here since the early 70'sand took over in 1978 - he remains optimistic:

Pastor Lloyd Sandford, Pastor - Queen St. Baptist since 1978
"Ah, I'm still tyring to put it together, but it is a big loss. All the testimony of this church from 1822 to today gone up in flames. But I must say the building gone up in flames, but the church continues and the message of the church from 1822 from today is the same."

Steve Ozaeta, Teacher
"Emotionally it's loss of history of Belize. This place has been here form 1822 - this place is like no other mein."

And into the future, he says they were just about to embark on a renovation:

Pastor Lloyd Sandford, Pastor - Queen St. Baptist since 1978
"Yes, yes, we have the plan to remodelled we have a rough cost estimate and all of that that I have to revisit now and put into fast motion, because the rebuilding would have to take the image of what you saw here. Just as it went down, it have to go up."

Steve Ozaeta, Teacher
"Mein I feel like just cry. I know that they might build a new one, a bigger one, it's just not going to be the same. Everyday I come here and I would touch these posts that hold up the structure and I would look at them and tell myself, mein, you know these posts are still there like they were built yesterday. I can't believe it and so even though they might put a cement building, touching those old wood posts will never feel the same to me again."