Holness pledges help for fire victims

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says the Government will be assisting residents in downtown Kingston who were displaced by recent fires that destroyed their homes.

However, the prime minister said the intervention "is not something that can happen overnight".

"We are going to assist those persons... [and] we are going to try and do it as quickly as possible," Holness said.

The prime minister toured areas such as Love Lane in Fletcher's Land, Kingston Western, and Fleet Street and Ladd Lane in Kingston Central. Several families have been displaced in recent months after fire razed their homes. The most recent incident took place at Fleet Street and Ladd Lane, and resulted in more than 10 families being left homeless.

Holness said that for persons to get building assistance, several processes will have to be followed. He emphasised that the Government cannot build on any property without knowing who owns it.

"We have to determine the ownership of the land... and then we have to do some social investigation into the circumstances of the persons to determine the extent to which we can help," Holness explained.

"We have to establish ownership. Once ownership is established, then we can determine what we can do, whether it is to replace a building or to give a grant," Holness stated.