Unoccupied house in Belize City catches fire

A house in the Port Loyola area, Belize City caught fire just after five o’clock on Sunday evening.  The two-storey wooden structure was reportedly unoccupied, and fire officials are still working at confirming the cause.  The structure, located just off Jane Usher Boulevard, measured thirty by forty feet; the owner is reportedly living in the United States.  Both Police and firefighters responded to the call and had the scene processed.  Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor of the National Fire Service spoke on the findings.

Keneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service: “It was an abandoned house, a two storey structure. That building was totally gutted by fire. We can conclude that the fire was the act of a negligent use of an open flame by an unknown individual who apparently took up that building as residence and we were trying to gather information from him but as the norm is whenever these types of characters create these fires they automatically vanish with the wind. So exactly who the individual is we have no information at this time but we do know that this was a negligent use of an open flame.”

The cost of the damages is unknown and it is yet to be verified if the property was insured.