Mountain Pineridge Blaze Continues; Penner Likely Faces Charges

The Mountain Pine Ridge training site at Baldy Beacon is still on fire. On Thursday, the BDF and a specialist team from the Organisation of American States (OAS) began destroying Unexploded Ordnance (UXOs) collected from across the country on Monday. Over 1,500 of those explosives were the result of an aggressive cleanup campaign launched after last year’s death of 25-year-old welder Jose Valencia.

Baldy Beacon is the only blast pad in Belize capable of handling that kind of destruction.

The CEO of the Ministry of National Defence, Francis Usher, says the explosions sent “some bits of fire that spread around. And because of the wind and the dryness of the area, the fire spread quite rapidly.”

He added, “Even though we were exercising the safest possible procedures, the fire did manage to spread.

Usher stated that the immediate response involved activating the Forestry Department and NEMO. Resources are still deployed to prevent the blaze from encroaching on nearby properties.

Despite fires spilling in nearby areas, Usher said the decision was made to take the opportunity of having the presence of the OAS Team of Program of Assistance for the Control of Arms and Munitions, to allow the BDF to continue with the mass destruction of the explosives. 90% of the ordnance had already been destroyed when soldiers found former minister Elvin Penner at the restricted site allegedly removing explosive materials.

Videos obtained by News 5 shows Penner’s truck loaded with materials after being stopped by the BDF. According to Usher, charging wire, white phosphorus, and a drum of petroleum were found loaded in Penner’s truck.

“Those are elements that are combined to create the explosion, to create the detonation of these munitions. And he had those next to each other on a drum of what we believe was either gasoline or diesel. Either way, on a drum of petroleum. That could have ended very, very badly for him and for many,” Usher added.

The site is a demarcated military zone with signage posted along the only road in and out. Public notices had been issued. “If live training or live firing or live explosions were happening, then it is irresponsible as an individual to be in the area while this is occurring,” Usher added.

Penner disputes the characterisation. He says he was in the area monitoring the fire and believed the materials had been abandoned. “I would have not picked up anything had it not been that the fire was now coming back to destroy what the operation had left behind.”

Penner instead insists he was in the area keeping an eye on a fast-moving fire.

All evidence, including the video footage, has been handed to police. “What I can say is that his actions, whether or not charges are levied, and I think they will be, his actions were extremely irresponsible and foolish,” Usher said.