Fire leaves six persons homeless

Uncertainty and an air of doom and gloom now face a family of six, who lost their home and other earthly possessions during a massive fire Monday night at Boston in Portland.

The loss, which is taking its toll on the family, which includes three children, is almost unbearable, especially for Marlon Buckley. The Rastafarian is now in a financial bind with no help or assistance in sight.

"I just feel like disappearing underneath the earth," said Buckley. "This is one of those moments that hit you hard. I was on the road operating my taxi when I received a call at about 7:30 p.m. that my house was on fire. I rushed home and while driving up the lane, I saw the smoke. The rest is history; everything gone up in smoke. But I feel it so much more for the children, who have nowhere to sleep. What do we tell them?"

Want to go home

Buckley said that the children, ages three, five and seven, have been crying and saying that they want to go home.

"Nothing save, not even a next piece of clothes. We need help like now, so if di whole Jamaica hear and can help us, we need it right now. We are outside at the moment in the corona (coronavirus). It's never ever easy fi fight back and the corona is disaster, and it is worse than what we have to face right now," he said.

Rory Campbell, acting assistant superintendent of the Port Antonio Fire Department, said that the brigade received a call at 8:25 p.m.

"The unit was on a call at a bush fire, but was in proximity," he said. "They had completed a task, and as a result they responded and reached the location in quick time. On arrival, the brigade realised that the building was engulfed in flames. Assistance was sought from the Buff Bay Fire Station. After the operation commenced, the brigade took like 15 to 20 minutes to bring the fire under control and later extinguished it."

He said that one section of the six-bedroom building was destroyed. Firefighters managed to save the upper floor of the building, which has three bedrooms.

Three refrigerators, a freezer, two gas stoves, smart TVs, laptop computers, various items of clothing, and numerous documents were destroyed in the fire.

Preliminary loss is estimated at $10 million. The house was not insured.