Fourteen homeless following Barnett Lane blaze - Jamaica Observer

Source: Jamaica Observer

ST JAMES, Jamaica -- Four children are among some 14 individuals left homeless following a fire at Barnett Lane in Montego Bay, St James on Monday night.

The fire of unknown origin gutted sections of a building that served as a commercial area for a bar downstairs while the residential space was housed upstairs. Ten adults and four children are among those affected.

One of the children attends high school, the other primary school, while the other two are said to be too small to attend school at the moment.

No injuries have so far been reported, but one woman was said to have fainted following the ordeal.

Among those rendered homeless is Anthony Sloley, a hotel worker, who said he was asleep at the time of the blaze.

"I was sleeping then the smoke woke me up," he remarked.

Quick thinking saw him grab a towel to cover his face while exiting the building, but not before alerting several neighbours to the situation and guiding them outside.

He said he only managed to save a short pants and the towel. Everything else was destroyed in the blaze. He looked on forlorn as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.

"I lose everything, clothes, my birth paper, my passport, everything," he lamented.

His furniture and bedding were all destroyed. He shared how he managed to make his exit when the fire started.

"I had to go through a window because where the fire reach, I couldn't go through the door because of how it stay," he said.

The fire reportedly started just before 8:00 pm. The fire department is yet to figure out what started the blaze.

Two teams from the St James Fire Brigade managed to extinguish the fire, preventing it from spreading to adjoining buildings.

This latest development follows a hectic weekend for firefighters in St James as the fire department dealt with several incidents between Sunday and Monday morning.

There were two fires in the Old Shoe Market in the early hours of Sunday and Monday morning resulting in the destruction of three shops.

READ: Two more fires at MoBay's Old Shoe Market

There was also a fire along Gravel Lane just metres from the latest blaze where three buildings were affected.

A number of appliances, including refrigerators, stoves, and washers, were destroyed resulting in millions of dollars in losses.