Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor: “That fire was a very interesting fire in that it served many aspects. We learned that the establishment of #11 Pita Street was actually owned by the Ramos family who was there for quite a number of years before relocating to their new address in the Belama area. From what we’ve gathered from them reasons being that they were threatened and they were somewhat abused by the neighbors. For safety they left the city and relocated. Their downfall now was leaving the establishment so to speak unoccupied. We had credible information from police officers on the scene who stated that the establishment was burglarized quite a number of times within the three months where no one was there. These incidents were reported to the police department. From the fire fighting field we’ve learnt that this fire was one that was maliciously set however the perpetrators did not need the use of an accelerant seeing that they had entrance into the building, the building wasn’t secured. The fire load was already in the building whereby a few household items were still there namely a bed, a two piece sofa set and other little small items. The house itself served as a fire load being that it was of a pine construction type. However we managed to extinguish this fire but not before the house that sat right next to it, #13 owned by the Sandoval family, the structure suffered minor fire damage to its western sidings and windows. If we push further inside that house I believe it was one of the chest of drawers that also burnt in the process along with some clothing particulars. Fortunately for that particular family seeing that they were there, no one was injured at the time during this blaze and double fortunately for them the damage to their building was contained to just what was mentioned earlier.”
