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#51369 04/21/02 10:49 PM
Joined: Oct 2001
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God bless the NYFD!!!

#51370 04/22/02 08:48 AM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 28
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Marty, we are deeply sorry for what happened in San Pedro. We will be flying to AC this Saturday and of course that we will like to help in the efforts to help the san pedranos that lost their homes and belongings...where do we go, once in San Pedro, to make a contribution. Also, will they need clothes, etc? I am sure we can prepare a box of things for donations to take with us this Saturday. Please let us know.

Denisse


Caribe
#51371 04/22/02 11:23 AM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 28
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Freebelize...I don't see how we can hurt San Pedro more than help it, after all, the whole economy of San Pedro depends on turism. The help I offer was honest and sincere, if you feel San Pedro doesn't need it you just had to say it, you did not need to insult us, you don't even know us, we are really, really very good people; if I am not mistaken, I read above in this section that a Firefighter from New York City was there in vacation when the fire started and he risked his live and his vacation helping the people of AC...so, you see tourists are important in AC. I know you are very angry for what happened and want to find the person responsible for it and I hope you do, but do not direct your angry towards people that have done not harm to you or your frineds and family.

Hope everything works for the best in AC, we will take our offer to help back.


Caribe
#51372 04/22/02 12:09 PM
Joined: Apr 2002
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I am sure you have value reasons for feeling and thinking that way about Belizians, I do not know anyone from Belize, so I can't say one way or the other about them...but everyone needs a hand once in a while, some people more often than others, some people are stronger than others, some countries and their people are stronger than others. That's all, even if Belizians learn to get on their feet by themselves when catastrophe strikes, even then, they will need some help once in a while. When we had the 9/11 attack here in NYC, you should have seen the amount of help and donations pouring from all directions to NYC and NYC is a rich state in a rich country. Everyone needs a hand sometimes.

P.S.
I am sure that if Belize did not help USA when 9/11 is was probably because they weren't in a position to help, I come from a poor country and I know my country did not help USA during the terrible days following 9/11, not because Dominicans did not wanted to help then, they just didn't have the extra resources to give away.

That's all, I am sure that even you need some help once in a while, someone to give a hand with problems or a shoulder to lean over and cry.

God Bless you and be kind to others because life is made of rubber and it always bounces back.


Caribe
#51373 04/22/02 04:41 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 713
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Denisse: There is a head case who sometimes forgets to take his meds and haunts this board posting nasty negative messages. I can't say for sure but I suspect "realbelize" is Lithium Lad, which is why you see that the messages from "realbelize" have been removed. (He is not Belizean by the way). When you see a nasty message full of misspellings by someone who is using a "new" (usually the same day as the message was posted) name, its very likely to be him.
Ignore him. The lights are on but there is nobody home.


Susan Guberman-Garcia, Attorney at Law. Phone: 510-792-2639
Fax/Voicemail:: 510-405-2016 Email: [email protected]
#51374 04/22/02 04:46 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 4,262
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If anyone would like to make a donation to the fire victims, write a check to the "Fire Victims Fund" and send it to me: Bill Thornton, PO Box 245, San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, Belize, Central America. I'll deposit said check in the Fire Victims Fund at the Belize Bank. Please "DON'T SEND CASH"!!! or make out check to me.


Gone fishing!!
#51375 04/22/02 04:54 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 4,262
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Ditto to Susangg. The fire is not the only sad situation!!


Gone fishing!!
#51376 04/22/02 05:31 PM
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 266
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I met Fred and Ken on the flight down there as they were heading down for the Jim Morris shows. Thats fabulous they were able to help out the local community! We maybe on vacation but its great when folks help out like that, especially having endured so much with the NYC disaster. We were staying down at Banana Beach and didnt hear about the fire until the next morning. One of our group was supposed to go back into the Hyperbaric Chamber the next morning which is located right next to the houses that burned down, in fact the walls of that facility were charred. That facility being in the construction phases with just the chamber in the middle and walls half built around it was probably a good thing as the fire didnt have much to leap too. However all the power was out so our friend and a girl who had diving related problems had to suddenly pack up and be taken to Cozumel via boat and bus. That is unfortunately the nearest chamber after San Pedros. We drove by the scene the next day and the buildings there were just burned to the ground, definitely a sad scene. Thanks for the address to help out as I'll pass it around my friends to see if we can get a donation together. We had an incredible time on the island, the islanders are the nicest anywhere so I am sure they'd all want to help out too.

Andrea in Atlanta


Andrea in Atlanta
#51377 04/23/02 09:06 AM
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 84,397
Marty Offline OP
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Fire leaves nearly 100 San Pedranos
homeless

The town of San Pedro is no
stranger to misfortune, but
most of the community's
disasters are of the natural
variety, namely hurricanes. But
the storm which struck
Ambergris Caye in the wee
hours of Saturday morning was
made of fire, and the evidence indicated that the
conflagration may have been manmade. News 5's
Jacqueline Woods reports.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The fire destroyed seven buildings and left close to
one hundred persons homeless and is estimated to
have caused three million dollars in damage. Most of
the fire victims are not San Pedranos, but people from
the mainland who came to the island to work and
rented apartments in the Esmeralada area on the west
side of the municipal airstrip. The fire started shortly
after 1:00 a.m. at Felix and Ada Ayuso's residence and
quickly spread to neighbouring buildings.

Kelvin Zolozabal, Fire Victim
"When it started, the breeze begin to blow and hit the
house upstairs and when the roof start to ketch, then
from this house then the next house start to ketch
right."

Jacqueline Woods
"It happened quickly?"

Kelvin Zolozabal
"Quick, just like that."

Kelvin Zolozabal, who lived in one of the apartment
buildings that was destroyed says he had just gotten
home and was sitting on the veranda when he noticed
flames coming from inside the house next door.
Zolozabal says there was just not enough time to
save any of his possessions.

Kelvin Zolozabal
"Everything, clothes, everybody lose everything
because the house are close to one another, so it just
start to spread. And the breeze was blowing from the
sea, so it start to hit one another house you know."

Today we came upon the Oba family sifting through
the debris and ashes desperately trying to find some
remembrances of their life. Amelia Oba says she was
sleeping when she was suddenly awakened by the
strong smell of smoke.

Amelia Oba, Fire Victim (translated from Spanish)
"So that's when I got up with my family. We could not
save anything, no clothes, nothing. All I did was just
grabbed my kids and ran out."

Captain Sharks, a marine supply store, was the only
business that was destroyed. The store, owned By
James Ritchie, lost one point two million dollars in
damage to the building and contents.

Ian Ritchie, James' Father
"There's nothing left. We lost the building and we lost
the stock, everything that we've built up over the last
five years. There was a considerable amount of money
in the stock. Very thankfully, we had a little insurance,
it really doesn't cover the stock hardly, but at least it
covers the building. My sympathy goes out
tremendously to our neighbours, the people who had
their homes here, who lost everything."

Jacqueline Woods
"I notice cleanup has already started here, does this
mean that you plan to start over at the same
location?"

Ian Ritchie
"We plan to start over at this location as soon as we
can get a building up. That we hope to be in a matter
of weeks rather than longer, and we're going to start
in business at another location on, I think it's Barrier
Reef Drive, down by the southern supermarket this
week. It's a temporary one that we're gonna get in
straight away so that we can keep our customers
supplied with their needs."

When we arrived at the scene, many people who
witnessed the inferno said the buildings could have
been saved, but that one of the pumps used by the
Fire Service refused to work.

Kelvin Zolozabal
"We were waiting for water to out the first house and
no water. And then the owner of the house was
bailing that her house was going to ketch fire.
Because this was the roof up here and the breeze was
blowing and then it ketch the roof and that's when
this first house start to ketch. No water, then the
people start to come out and like two hundred guys,
San Pedranos, get together and we get buckets, I
don't know from where buckets come, but buckets just
come. We had to break that fence over there from
Tropic Air and break two other pipe lines and get
water and break the water line from over that side to
get water to try out the fire."

Andrew Nunez, O.C., San Pedro Fire Department
"When we arrived on the scene, two house were
already engulfed in flames. At the same time, when
we proceeded to the lagoon located on Tarpon Street,
the pump was malfunctioned."

Jacqueline Woods
"Did the pumps started to give problems when you all
arrived at the scene or was this pump simply not
working for some time?"

Andrew Nunez
"Well, I cannot say at this time due to the fact that
we are still going with an ongoing investigation
pertaining to the pump section, so I cannot say at
this moment."

Jacqueline Woods
"But I would imagine that you guys would check your
equipment on a daily basis, so when was the last time
the pump was checked?"

Andrew Nunez
"We check it on a regular and daily basis, during
handing over, taking over, we make sure that all the
equipment and everything is serviceable, that's part of
our maintenance job."

Jacqueline Woods
"So when was this pump last checked and was it
working?"

Andrew Nunez
"As I said before, it is checked everyday on a regular
basis, we check it during handing over and taking
over."

Jacqueline Woods
"So, it was checked on the morning of the fire?"

Andrew Nunez
"You can say that."

Jacqueline Woods
"Now this fire department has two trucks and I
understand it wasn't only one truck that had gone out
to the scene, but a second bowser/tender. So when
this first truck pump failed, why is it that you didn't
use the second truck?"

Andrew Nunez
"We did try to use it, but at the same time, it's an old
truck and we have been experiencing difficulties with
it, so that's not something you can rely on."

As the National Fire service does its own internal
investigation to find out what caused the delay, the
fire itself is being investigated.

Jacqueline Woods
"The police and fire officials are investigating to find
out what started the blaze. But preliminary reports
suggest that the fire, which started from the Ayuso's
residence was deliberately set."

San Pedro police say Ada Ayuso told them that
following a fight with her husband, Felix Ayuso, he
tore her clothes off and that's when she locked her
herself inside the bathroom. Police say Ayuso told
them that while she was inside the room she heard
something that sounded like the rustling of papers
and then a door slammed. When Ayuso walked out of
the room, that's when she saw a mattress was on fire
inside the bedroom. On Saturday, police detained Felix
Ayuso, but this morning he was released pending
further investigation.

As for the fire victims, they have been receiving some
assistance from the community, area representative
for Patty Arceo, the town board and the Human
Development Department.

Patty Arceo, Area Representative
"Get people's names and find out exactly how many of
them were affected. We found out it was close to
ninety-seven people that were directly affected. We
then went over to the radio station and started to
plea with community of San Pedro to please bring
some food and some clothes so that we can be
assisting these people, of which the response was
immediately.

Well as you know, the investigation is still being
carried on and some of these people also had
insurance, so the insurance companies also have to
be coming to do some assessment. A lot of the people
who were affected were mostly tenants, so we're
accommodating them in other buildings where they
can continue renting. And our office of Belize Rural
South, will be assisting them for about two months
with the payments of the rentals."

The Radio-thon that was hosted by reef radio
managed to raise a total of eighty-four thousand
dollars. Reporting for News 5, Jacqueline Woods.

Donations for the fire relief fund can be sent to the
San Pedro Town Board.

#51378 04/24/02 10:04 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2
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We would like to help San Pedro after this terrible event in some way. Have found 3 different places to send contributions to, would like to know which is the definitive organization to send to. Fire Victims Fund, San Pedro Lions Club or San Pedro Town Board? Or is it something else?
We visited the island in early April and have fallen in love with it. Please let us know how to help. Thanks.

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