Fire victims forced to sleep in the open

While many were grateful for yesterday's showers of rain, it was quite the opposite for Kimeisha Lopez and some other residents of Ladd Lane and Fleet Street in Central Kingston.

The mother of four, and those affected by Monday afternoon's massive fire had to watch as the rain drenched the only belongings they managed to save. Among the little that Lopez salvaged from the inferno was a mattress. Yesterday, THE STAR team could not help but notice as one of her daughters and another girl lay on the uncovered mattress located in the middle of Ladd Lane.

"A right dere suh all a we sleep last night and probably a deh so we ago sleep until we get some help. Other people sleep out here as well but not everybody. The MP came and other people come and say dem ago carry some groceries but it hard," she said.

"Mi don't know how mi ago build back because mi not working now. A babysitting mi use to do and the house gone and is in there mi used to do it. Mi just don't how or where to start," she added.

As the adults sat with worrisome faces, a number of children were observed playing within the space. A few others were seen searching through the rubble with other adults for anything of value. A woman who lost her two-bedroom house in the blaze said the children were unable to attend classes as all their uniforms and other school supplies went up in the blaze.

"Everything gone eno, from school uniform to bags and books. Di pickney dem no have anything. A lot of who you see just have the last suit of clothes on dem backs," she said.

A man said that as his house burnt to the ground, instead of assisting, unscrupulous persons decided to steal his saving pan.

"A from last year mi a save some silver and some little paper money and all dat dem gone with. Mi don't know what to do eno because everything gone. It rough bad," he said.

More than three dozen residents have been left homeless following Monday's fire that ravaged approximately a dozen homes. A team from the fire brigade was still on location yesterday conducting a cooling-down operation. An official cause for the fire is yet to be determined.