I heard that there was a fire last night near the childrens park. There was a newly completed house nearby that was also destroyed. Anyone else hear anything?

From SP Sun:
Fire in Caye Caulker
The San Pedro Sun has confirmed with fire officials that there was a massive fire near the split in Caye Caulker last night (November 23). 3 buildings were completely destroyed, including one hotel and two residential homes. The San Pedro Fire Department were dispatched in the night to Caye Caulker where they assisted the CCFD in bringing the fire under control.
The San Pedro Sun will have more details and pictures from our reporter in the area as the day progresses.
Our thoughts are with those affected by the fire.

That is terribly sad news.

I just talked to a guy that was there. A mosquito coil started the fire. The new C.C. fire truck wouldn't run so everyone basically watched the buildings burn. I watched one of the houses that burned being built and it was really georgous-I hope they had insurance.

It is being reported the new house had no insurance..It was a beautiful home...also being reported fire truck was out of gas..and the pump that had been lent to a construction site was not working.....shameful...

Which building were destroyed?

Photos here:

http://sanpedrosun.blogspot.com/2009/11/caye-caulker-fire-details.html

When you get house insurance on a house that is being built, how do they calculate that because it increases in value continuously? Just curious.

FIRE IN CAYE CAULKER DESTROYS FOUR BUILDINGS

November 24, 2009

Four buildings were completely destroyed and two partially damaged in a fire this morning in Caye Caulker. 

Sergeant Leslie Wade, Head of Caye Caulker Sub Formation

“At about 2:15 acting upon information from a concerned citizen of Caye Caulker, Police visited the Beachfront Costa Maya beach cabanas where several structures were seen engulfed in fire.  As a result Police along with the citizens acted together, we worked hand in hand with bucket parade and through the assistance of a small pump that was loaned to us by one of Caye Caulker’s locals and we managed at around 4:15 a.m. to put out the fire.  Assistance was also being rendered through San Pedro Fire Service and also the fire service here in Caye Caulker.” 

The buildings completely destroyed were one bungalow structure belonging to Ocean Park hotel owned by Efrain Novelo, a residential two storey newly constructed building belonging to Yearwood Carrie and two wooden two storey buildings belonging to Costa Maya Beach Resort owned by Desidoro Rosado. Rudy Rosado the sister of the owner of Maya Beach Resort spoke to Love News.

Rudy Rosado, sister of fire victim

“We got the call from early this morning about minutes to one and when I arrived at the scene of the fire, I saw the pump was just arriving. We made calls over and over; they were nowhere to be found. They arrived and at this point five houses were already engulfed in flames. The fire pump could not even start; we did not get any help from the fire department.  We got a pump from a person by the name of Dozie, he came and started his small little pump and started releasing water. By this time our neighbours were already helping us, there were dozens of our neighbours helping us. While we were out here we could do nothing but watch because the pump was not in operation, none at all. The fire started about 12:30 minutes to one, the Fire Service responded about 1:30 to 2:00. When we called they were nowhere at the station, the phone was just ringing and ringing. We caught up with the truck at one of the fireman’s house. Nothing is insured, it is a total disaster for us. We are so mad at the Fire Department for not being able to assist us.”

The total estimated loss is between $700,000.00 to $900,000.00. 

LOVEFM

This is Costa Maya Beach Cabanas in Caye Caulker.
We are open for business and we have 6 cabanas available for rental, 3 beachfront and 3 with partial view. These rooms did not receive damage from the fire. Our back cabanas 1 - 4 and our storage shed.
The fire started at Ocean Pearl in one of their back cabanas, The fire grew quickly and due to the pump malfunction, the back cabanas and Haywood's house could not been saved, it if wasn't for the efforts of the local villagers and Doce's pump, more would of been lost.
We are grateful that no one was hurt.
Thank you

Our thoughts are with everyone who was affected by this awful tragedy.

Contractor's all risk insurance is held by any legit contractor in Belize. If you are building on your own I guess insurance is then your responsibility. Very sad situation but no insurance is the risk you take.

Fire in Caye Caulker causes over $700,000 in damages

A fire in Caye Caulker that started at about two o'clock this morning lasted for two hours and by the time it was contained, over seven hundred thousand dollars in damages were caused to three properties. But the issue stirring much anger on the island today was the alleged negligent response of the Fire Department. News Five’s Delahnie Bain headed out to the Caye where the fire had been extinguished but the heated frustration among the residents raged on.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting
At least four buildings were reduced to mere rubble after an early morning blaze in Caye Caulker. The losses tallied up to over seven hundred and thirty thousand dollars and none of the destroyed structures were insured. The fire started in a cabin at the Ocean Pearl Royale Hotel and spread to Costa Maya Cabanas where a warehouse as well two buildings that housed four apartments were destroyed.

Rudy Rosado, Sister, Owner of Costa Maya Cabanas
“We responded immediately when our neighbors shouted for us. When we came here the buildings were already engulfed in flames. An hour after, the fire department responded and they tried to get the pump started and the pump didn’t start. There was no gasoline I understand and we got no help from the department.”

Delahnie Bain
“Have you put a value to amount of damage caused to your property?”

Julian Rosado, Manager, Costa Maya Cabañas
“I would say about three hundred and fifty to four hundred thousand Belize. When they wake me up the first thing I did was grab a fire extinguisher because I thought it was my building that had started to burn. But when I got here it wasn’t my building that was on fire it was the neighbor behind me house was on fire. I think that if the fire department was working properly it could have stopped this from happening.”

Efrain Novelo, Owner, Ocean Pearl Royale Hotel
“I think they were inside the house because at about twelve-thirty, minutes to one they came down and said there was a fire. He had already used the fire extinguisher. Then I came down but was a little bit too late so we just started to use buckets and eventually a local came with a pump and that helped.”

Delahnie Bain
“Do you know how it started?”

Efrain Novelo
“No I don’t.”

Haywood Curry also suffered a major a loss because his house was also destroyed. But for Curry, the ashes on the ground were not just the remnants of a three hundred and twenty thousand dollar investment, it was the newly constructed and furnished home that he would was about to move into.

Haywood Curry, Fire Victim
“Once the fire truck got here my house still wasn’t on fire and they had the pump in the water but they couldn’t start it. So we kept waiting and waiting and finally it caught and they didn’t have any chance to—they still couldn’t get it started. All I know is that it definitely would not have gone up if the pump would have worked because my house wasn’t on fire when they first got here. So I’m not criticizing anybody I just know that we need some real equipment here.”

While they were disappointed at the costly damages, the fire victims were even more upset about the Fire Department’s response. The residents say they had to out the fire themselves and they made some serious allegations against the firefighters.

Rudy Rosado
“I am pissed off; really pissed because of the negligence of the Fire Department. If they would have responded immediately, at least they could have used their initiative and tried to do something before the house was engulfed in flames and there was nil response, nothing, not even an ounce of water came out of the pump.”

Porfilio Guzman, Helped Out Fire
“Here in Caye Caulker our Fire Department is very slack, slack, slack. They use the fire department vehicle as for their own for taxis and they are always under the influence of liquor. All what we do out here is we get the manpower from almost all the villagers and even the foreigners they came with buckets of water from the east of the sea to the west of the island. We had lines of buckets throwing water and water and what happened we have a gentleman and I think he is a hero; they call him Dosey. He had what you call a water pump and what he did is use the hose from the Fire Department. I think he had to cut a nozzle to connect to his pump and that’s what saved us.”

Training Officer for the National Fire Service, Kenneth Mortis, met the media this afternoon to address the allegations, starting with the claim that the truck showed up about an hour after they were called.

Kenneth Mortis, Training Officer, National Fire Service
“Lucky for us we went back and our caller ID showed that the call was made at two twenty-three, a second call was made at two-twenty-six. Shortly thereafter the fire personnel responded to the location of the fire.”

Jorge Aldana, San Pedro Sun
“I understand that when they responded they were drunk. Will you be able to comment on that?”

Kenneth Mortis
“Allegations, allegations. As a professional department or an organization we need to realize that we are here to serve the people. We are employed on a twenty-four hour basis; we have no room to be drunk. I will not go back and forth and say who was right and who’s wrong but as far as I can verify, my people were not drunk in any way, form or fashion. The pumps were working. We brought our mechanics to verify such. What happened the pumps started working but the fire was under inclement weather. The rain contributed to the pump being malfunction. What happened it received damages to its electrical components.”

Mortis says the department will investigate the allegations. Delahnie Bain for News Five.

About ten persons were staying in the rooms that were destroyed at Costa Maya Cabanas and they have been moved to another hotel.

Channel 5

This is dreadful news. Terrible that the fire department can't function as a proper fire department. As for insurance, isn't it pretty hard to get insurance anyway? I hear even if you have it, come a big hurricane and the insurance company wouldn't have enough to cover you anyway.

One should still be able to get fire insurance, and I can't imagine the cost of it, but how can a hotel and a new house build, not have fire insurance? Where's the economics in that?
I've been paying insurance on my homes for years. I've never had a fire yet, and if in my lifetime, if I never have a fire, I'll still consider it money well spent. You don't need insurance, until you need it and then it is worth every penny spent.

My friends lost their home to the ground, one Christmas Eve. They were fortunate that everyone got out safely, but had they not had fire insurance, the cost of restructuring their lives after the loss would have been almost immeasurable. And that is here in Canada. Another friend of mine here, not very well off, had his apartment suite go up, losing all his meagre belongings and the fire spread to other units. He had no tenants insurance. To this day, he doesn't have what he had before and that was 10 years ago. Up here, tenants insurance isn't that expensive and we'd often encouraged him to get it, but he either didn't get around to it, or just saw it as a waste of money he could be spending on himself.

I can't imagine what happens to a home owner or business and the family(s) involved in Belize when they have losses of this magnitude.

My heart goes out to all involved.

Insurance for Wood Buildings is difficult to get if you don't have an existing policy, but the last bit about not getting paid is totaly inaccurate if based on the whole industry as they lay it off overseas.

The question about insurance: Since I am the owner of the cabanas that burnt down, I thought I should respond to these questions. We tried to get insurance but it is difficult because of the wooden structures. If it is concrete, do I really need to insure. We are still seeking insurance, mainly for liability issues and not property if you have any suggestions. Since I own the property outright ( ie no mortgage) I am self insured. We will rebuild once we have new designs drawn up and the season is over so we don't disturb guests. We still have rooms available that we just renovated, we just have 4 rooms less. While it is a tragedy and there are lots of unanswered questions about cause and response, it is done and we are moving on.

While I'm still sorry about your tragedy and don't want to add to your pain, I'm confused about your answer.

I understand that it is hard to get insurance in Belize on a wooden structure, but I thought that related to Hurricane insurance. Are you saying that it is also hard to get insured on a wooden building even for fire and other perils? If so, therein lies many a tragedy to come.

As I understand it each Insurance company has a quota of wooden houses they have to insure. Most don't add new houses, I am currently looking for insurance for my house which is wood. I did put in a fire surpression system but not sure whether it will work as intended.

Ron, I hope you don't ever have to find out.

Me too.

After the damage by Hurricane Keith in 2000,,,extensive damage the insurance companies I have been told paid off quickly and fairly....you cant get selective insurance..as in fire only..and wood houses are a higher risk for that. We were turned down several times for insurance as our house is wood and cement. Our staircase was putting our house over the 50% wood limit. We did and do have insurance but if we canceled we would never get it back....its rather expensive...coverage here is $1,000US..yearly.for more coverage in the States...$300 3 times as much.......

Good to hear that Costa Maya Beach Cabanas is still operational. I'm sorry to hear about Haywood & the Novelo's loss.

Ron, can you tell me what is a fire surpression system? Also, if anyone has an insurance company they can recommend please post? $1000 a year sounds well worth it, even if it's a lot higher than we pay in North America....

When I was building the house I ran a water pipe up to the roof and drilled down through the ridge beam in 3 places , ran the pipe through the holes and fixed fire sprinkler heads to the end of the pipe. The sprinkler heads are set to go off when temperatures reach 165 degrees. System should work as long as the pipes don't melt (I used CPVC) and the pump keeps working. Once the glass for the sprinkler breaks the sprinkler head opens just like offices have. Mine can only pump water from my cistern which depending on time of year could be no help at all. But the sprinkler heads are pretty cheap, about $10US in the states, the rest is running 1/2" cpvc pipe. Figured it'd work to at least wake me up to get the heck out. It'd be pretty easy to retro fit it on existing houses.

We live in a wooden house on Caye Caulker (it's insured by the way) but wanted to let everyone know about a fire hazard that is new to us. We have always used the green mosquito coils (fish) but switched to the new black ones (Touba brand). They are very dangerous if not put in a plate or metal tin. One of ours burned through the plastic holder and caught our floor on fire two nights ago - these black coils DO NOT extinguish like the green ones. We had to put water on the fire to put it out. I am concerned that most of ua are not used to these coils having used the green ones for years. Please advise your friends/neighbors/and any hotel owners that you know. We are posting a warning in our guest house about them and asking everyone to use green or use vap-o-mats. Thanks!

RF&G Insurance are the biggest in Belize. Concrete Insurance starts is a yearly premium of +/- 1.5% of Value Insured, Wood is three times higher. Concrete doesn't have to be 100% concrete and block. I think concrete columns and poured floor with wood siding counts too.

Just had dinner with "Back" we are both insured with Atlantic..I have been very happy with them..They are affiliated with Lloyds of London..at least they were 6 yrs ago....RF&G would not insure our house. They were also more expensive...
We also had a fire using the black coils.............

Fire Destroys close to $1Mil in Caye Caulker

Residents of our sister island Caye Caulker were awakened on Monday, November 23, at about 2:00 in the morning by huge fire that completely destroyed four buildings and left two partially damaged.

According to Kenneth Mortis, Training Officer of the National Fire Service, the Caye Caulker Fire Station received a call at about 2:23 a.m. about a fire coming from a Cabaña at Ocean Pearl Royal Hotel.

Police, along with island residents, acted together and formed a bucket brigade to assist in outing the fire as the small pump belonging to the fire department was malfunctioning. A local resident also rendered some aid by providing a water pump and members of the San Pedro Fire Department also arrived to help extinguish the blaze out our neighbors in Caye Caulker.

Ocean Pearl Royal Hotel, where the fire started, was totally destroyed; it belonged to Efrain Novelo which was estimated at $40,000. A residential two storey newly constructed building belonging to Haywood Curry estimated at $320,000 and two wooden two storey buildings belonging to Costa Maya Beach managed by Julian Rosado estimated at $400,000 were all destroyed by the fire.

“We were told by the occupants of the cabaña, where the fire started, were burning a fish coil and that that could have been what started the fire,” commented Mr. Mortis. “We do not want to just go by what we were told so our investigations still continue. What I can assure is that the fire was not due to any electrical problem or negligence of unattended stoves and so forth.”

The damage estimate stands at roughly $700,000 and nothing was insured. A Danish couple who stayed in the Ocean Pearl Royal Hotel where the fire started were detained and questioned by both police and fire personnel but were released without charges.

The Caye Caulker Fire Department consists of two firemen and one had the day off and was not on the island the morning of the fire. Residents of Caye Caulker are asking for more fire fighters and new equipment for the fire department.

Ambergris Today

Photo by Desi Rosado

Villagers in Caye Caulker are still in shock after a fire in the heart of darkness completely consumed four buildings while partially damaging three other neighboring structures. The incident, a sight the village has not seen for years, took place in the beginning hours on Tuesday awakening villagers to a state of chaos. After a few hours of furious battle against vibrant orange flames, villagers were left in the throes of rage and full of questions stemming from allegations of negligence and a delayed response by the Caye Caulker Fire Department to the emergency.

    Of the structures left in ashes are two wooden, two-storey buildings belonging to Costa Maya Beach Cabanas Resort which are owned by the Rosado family. Both buildings are estimated at about $400, 000 BZ combined, while a newly constructed two-storey wooden residential structure owned by Haywood Curry, also destroyed by blazing flames is estimated at $350, 000 BZ. The final casualty was claimed in the form of a bungalow wooden structure which belonged to Ocean Pearl Royal Hotel and estimated at $40,000BZ.

    In an interview with The Sun, Ruby Rosado described how the chaotic and terrifying incident unfolded. “We were told about the fire a few minutes to one this morning (Tuesday). We made calls to the Fire Department over and over but they were no where to be found. At this point four houses were already engulfed in flames,” explained Rosado. She added that, “When the fire men arrived, their water pump was not working. A resident by the name of “Doce” came afterwards with a pump to start pumping water. By that time dozens of neighbors were trying to help put out the fire.”

    According to the Head of the Caye Caulker Police Sub Formation, Sergeant Leslie Wade, the Police was informed of the fire through a phone call received at the Station at about 2:15 a.m. According to an official police interview, after receiving the information, officers were dispatched to the scene on Beach Front Street in the Split Area of the village. When they arrived, Sergeant Wade remembers seeing several structures fully engulfed in flames. Wade stated that, “Police, along with some citizens worked hand in hand in a bucket brigade and with the assistant of a small pump that was loaned to us by a villager, we managed to put out the fire at about 4:15 a.m.” Sergeant Wade explains that assistance was also rendered by the San Pedro Fire Service and the Caye Caulker Department, which is comprised of two firefighters.

    From the time the fire was brought under control to the time it was extinguished, four structures had been consumed by the inferno. In addition, two walls of a small pink bungalow building belonging to Rene Fumes, along with a storeroom and a wall of a two-storey building the property of Costa Maya Beach Cabana Resort, had been the victims of fire, smoke and water damage.

    Initial police investigation, as of press time, has revealed that Danish nationals Hanna Jensen and Rene Peterson were guests at Ocean Pearl Royal Hotel vacationing in one of their cabanas. Although pieces of the puzzle explaining the true timeline of the incident have not unfolded, Sergeant Wade has been able to establish that Jensen and Peterson lit a mosquito coil in their room in an effort to repel the flying insects and it eventually fell on the rug. It is believed that the rug caught fire which quickly spread through the building and on to neighboring structures.

    Owner of Ocean Pearl Hotel, Efrain Novelo, was alerted about the fire by his confused and frightened guests. Novelo would not go into details but stated that while he is still in shock, the incident is disastrous. As for the home owner of the two-storey building Haywood Curry, he had just completed and furnished his new home a day prior to the fire. Curry claims that it is his strong belief that if the Fire Department had responded in a timely fashion and if their equipment had functioned as it should have, his home would have been saved.

    However, not only is the alleged delayed response of the Fire Department causing contention in the village but witnesses claim that fire officials appeared to be intoxicated when they arrived to tackle the fire. Other assertions from angry and disgruntled owners, family, and friends of the fire victims collude that the department’s water pump was not in a functioning condition and therefore proved useless at a time it was needed the most.

    Leading the investigation for the Fire Department is Belize City Training Officer Kenneth Mortis. In a press conference held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Mortis flatly denied the allegations made against the department. “The department received the call sometime after two this morning. We are getting reports that calls were done probably a time before but I can only base myself on the time the department got the call,” stated Mortis. That call was received, according to Mortis, at exactly 2:23 a.m. with a second call logged into their caller ID at 2:26 a.m. At that time, Mortis states that fire officials responded.

    “Just allegations” is how Mortis explained the accusations that fire officials responded in a state of inebriation.” When questioned as to the water pump’s condition, Mortis stated that due to the rain which had descended over Caye Caulker, the pump suffered electrical problems at the scene of the fire rendering it useless. However, he continued to explain that the Fire Department’s investigations into the cause of fire and allegations made against his department have not been finalized. Investigations will continue while an internal investigation conducted by the Department itself will commence.

    At least 10 tourists were staying at the two resorts at the time of the fire but no one was hurt. As for the Danish couple, they were detained for questioning and were released on Tuesday afternoon. Following the mayhem during the fire, both Fire and Police personnel from San Pedro Town were dispatched to Caye Caulker to assist in the effort to extinguish the blaze. Total lost and partial structural damages are estimated at almost a million dollars.

    The Police Department also continues with their investigation.

San Pedro Sun

Thank you Ron, Phil and Cooper!

As many buildings on Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye are on or close to the beach, would a high pressure marine pump mounted on a boat be a significant benefit? They're extensively used in America and Europe and maybe a used one could be brought down here? Just a thought.

I just spent about an hour reading and rereading the article in the Amandela..regarding the fire..the last paragraph says..
Hopefully Caye Caulker residents will learn a lesson and take advantage of meetings held twice a week on fire prevention!!!!!!
What a crock of shit...WHAT MEETINGS????? Oh I am sure its something held in Belize City.though they did not say that...just turn it around to be the communities fault...

Regarding the pump..we have a pump..its lent out to construction sites..we got a new fire truck not long ago that is no more than a personal vehicle driven all over the island...what we need is for the job to be paid better and controlled better..and a bit of monitoring would not hurt.

While the morning started out sunny, by noon on Tuesday the sky was a threatening gray and rain lashed the island of Caye Caulker.

The stormy weather seemed to sum up the mood of the 2,500 residents of the village, and most particularly, the owner of Costa Maya Cabanas resort near the Split, Julian Rosado, who could only watch as much of his property and hard work literally went up in flames before his eyes earlier on Tuesday morning.

That fire could have been prevented, a number of village residents told us, if their local two-man fire service had been better prepared to face the danger, instead of falling down at the worst possible moment.

Sometime around 12:30 a.m. that Tuesday morning, a wooden 2-room bungalow on the property of the Ocean Palm Royale Hotel apparently caught fire. Before long, it spread to the property of Costa Maya, where two split-level wooden buildings, housing four rooms in total, collapsed, before it jumped to the Costa Maya warehouse, then in turn, to a small wooden house belonging to an unknown owner, and finally, to a large two-storey elevated wooden house with concrete piles.

Ocean Palm proprietor and tour operator, Efrain Novelo, told Amandala that two guests, said to be from Denmark, were staying in his cabana where the fire started, but escaped unhurt. Amazingly, despite the size of the fire, no injuries were reported to anyone staying in either Ocean Palm or Costa Maya.

It was neighbors from the immediate area who first spotted and spread the word about the fire to Costa Maya’s owner, Julian Rosado, and his sister Ruby, who were awakened from their sleep just before 1:00 a.m.

Ruby Rosado told Amandala that she is grateful for the assistance provided by her neighbors, who formed a bucket brigade and used whatever else they had – personal fire extinguishers, pumps and garden hoses – to help fight the conflagration.

But the local Fire Service received low marks from villagers for being ill-prepared. The Fire Service on Caye Caulker has just two firefighters assigned, with a brand new fire truck, but only one water pump. Only one firefighter was on duty last night, we have confirmed; the other was off the island tending to family issues.

“When the fireman finally showed up, he kept pumping and pumping, but the pump wouldn’t start. I think that up to now, they must still be trying to start it,” said a humorless Porfilio Guzman, one of those who helped fight the fire, to reporters at the scene on Tuesday morning.

“I got no assistance from the Fire Department, none at all. I even asked if they had ladders to maybe climb and get water inside, but nothing from them at all. I hope the Fire Chief gets rid of them,” Ruby Rosado added.

“I give the Fire Department zero for their efforts, and if you ask anyone else that was out there, they will tell you the same,” Efrain Novelo summed up.

According to the villagers, the lone firefighter on duty failed to respond immediately when called – despite being only five minutes away, no one was at the station responding to what villagers say were numerous calls made, and desperate residents resorted to calling the Caye Caulker and San Pedro Police Departments, who in turn informed Belize City police, who then called their colleagues on Cleghorn Street, who then reached the Caye Caulker Fire Station.

Furthermore, when he (the fireman) arrived on the scene, close to an hour and a half after the fire started, the water pump, as explained above, would not start, and a resident known only as “Dorsey” was pressed into service with his pump, all while the fire raged.

Many residents also say that when Caye Caulker police located the firefighter who was supposed to be on duty, he was at a house behind the airstrip, drinking, and went to the scene, if not in an inebriated condition, then nearly so.

This last charge is particularly distressing, but according to area residents, it is not the first time the Fire Department there has proven to be unfit. Indeed, in the pages of this newspaper (see story on page 3 of Amandala #2371 for Sunday, October 18, 2009) we reported that the Fire Department was accused by the local branch of the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) of late and inappropriate response to fires and arson attempts on the island earlier this year.

In addition, residents charged today that the two local firefighters have been seen using the truck as their personal plaything, running it around the island on various jaunts.

San Pedro firefighters, for their part, responded around 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, long after the fire had been put out, according to Ruby Rosado.

On the allegations of drunkenness, National Fire Service training officer Kenneth Mortis, who is leading the investigation, would only tell assembled press on Tuesday afternoon that the matter is being investigated.

Mortis’ boss, Fire Chief John Briggs, speaking to Amandala this morning, said that the fireman was at home when he was found, and was not drunk. His home is a mile from the fire scene.

The first logged call to the Caye Caulker fire station, located next to the police station, was at 2:23 a.m., easily almost an hour and a half after the reported start of the fire, and the truck still took 15 minutes to get to the scene over what Briggs calls “poor roads” on Caye Caulker.

Asked to explain the delay, Mortis reminded the press that, “we can only respond if we have been informed of an incident beforehand.”

(Note: The number to reach the Fire Service in any emergency, it bears repeating, is 90, not 911, which reaches the police. Alternatively, the Fire Service can be reached by standard listings in the telephone directory.)

As for the cause, the Fire Service thinks “negligent use of a mosquito coil” by the Danish tourists at Ocean Palm Royale Hotel may have led to the fire. The tourists gave statements today to police and fire investigators. Briggs told us arson and electricity problems have been ruled out, but that investigations continue.

Costa Maya, Julian Rosado estimates, he lost some $400,000 in property, most of it newly installed. Haywood Curry, the owner of the elevated house, lost some $320,000 in household goods, and the value of the Ocean Palm cabana and goods inside tallied up to $40,000. With other miscellaneous figures, the preliminary estimate from Amandala’s calculations is $786,000 in property lost this morning.

Worse, none of the properties affected by the fire, we are told, were insured.

Briggs, while reiterating that the Fire Service does not tolerate misbehavior such as that being alleged by the villagers, pointed out that Caye Caulker has no trained volunteer firefighters and that efforts to establish a cadre of volunteers have been unsuccessful. He hopes the disaster makes people think more seriously about coming out to the twice-weekly meetings, or “parades”, which feature instructions in fire-fighting techniques.

Investigations are almost done, and the owners of Costa Maya prepare to rebound from the devastating events of the early Tuesday morning conflagration.

Amandala