Another Blaze, Another Loss for Bowen Family

For Melonie Bowen, the smell of smoke wasn’t just alarming, it felt cruelly familiar. Minutes after returning home from a quick trip to buy a fan, Bowen stepped back outside and noticed what she first assumed was someone burning wood nearby. Then she looked again. Smoke was pouring from her window. “This can’t be happening again,” she thought. But it was. Just before midday, fire tore through the Quallo’s Alley duplex Bowen calls home, the second blaze to hit the same building in recent years. While her neighbor’s unit at the back was empty at the time, Bowen’s two sons were inside when the fire broke out. Everyone made it out safely, but safety was the only thing spared. By the time firefighters arrived, nearly everything else was gone, soaked, burned, or completely destroyed. Now displaced and staying at a guesthouse here in Belize City, Bowen says she’s once again left trying to rebuild after losing nearly all she owns, for the second time.

 

On the Phone: Melonie Bowen, Fire Victim

“The fire took place probably after eleven, 11:30, or somewhat. I arrived back home because I went to the shop to purchase a fan and then when I came back home, I went inside and I came back outside. When I went back outside and I leaned over, I saw smoke and I thought that that person, or someone, was burning wood. But when I looked at the side of the house, I saw smoke coming from through the window. And right from there, that’s when I said, “Mein, this can’t be a fire again.” This is the second time a fire happened to both of the houses because it’s a duplex house. I live at the front and my neighbor lives at the back. When that happened the first time, they renovated the house, they fixed the house, and then now we lived there again. So now this is the second time. But when the fire happened now, the neighbor at the back wasn’t at home. The dad was at church and the other son went to work, while my two sons, they were at home. But eventually, we came of the house and we called 911. We had other people come to help and assist us and the firetruck got here in like twenty, twenty-five minutes, so therefore, we lost everything. They lost a lot because the back part burnt down; they top and the bottom is burnt, nothing saved. My one now at the top, mattress everything burnt; everything at the top was wet up and burnt. Bottom was fired damaged and that is it. Last time when the fire happened, it was an electrical, upstairs, at the back part of the house. I am staying at a guesthouse and my kids are with their until I could get back on my feet.”

 

One Fire, Two Families Left With Nothing

 

As flames ripped through the structure, Melonie Bowen wasn’t the only one forced to start over. The same fire also destroyed the adjoining colonial home belonging to Anthony Scott’s family, leaving everyone with nothing but the clothes they wore that day. Scott was away working in San Pedro, his father and brother at church, when the call came in just before midday.

 

On the phone: Anthony Scott, Fire Victim

“That’s when I got the call stating that my house was on fire because I was not there, I was at San Pedro working and my father and my brother were at church, so no one was at home. My father went to stay with his daughter. Me, I got a hotel. The loss is critical because everything, everything got burned up. Only the clothes that was on our backs we were left with because the house is a colonial house that was joined together with two different persons, one owns half and the other person owns half. On the next side, the tenants were renting.”

 

Benita Keme-Palacio

“That’s the Bowen family?”

 

Anthony Scott

“Yes, ma’am. Like I said, the only thing I was left with was the clothes on my back. Luckily, for me, I was working at San Pedro for three to four days and I took a bag, so I had a little clothes to change. But, aside from that, everything was totaled. I wasn’t left with anything, so any little thing would be appreciated.”

 

Hours later, both families found themselves displaced, sharing the same loss and the same painful reality, everything they owned was gone.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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