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Vendors shell-shocked as fire guts market

Published:Tuesday | April 27, 2021 | 12:18 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
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A dejected Jermaine Wilks stands inside the ruins of the meat mart he operated along with his wife, Dawn, on Monday. The couple lost two well-stocked deep freezers, along with supplies, in a late-night fire on Sunday.
Photo by Christopher Serju
A dejected Jermaine Wilks stands inside the ruins of the meat mart he operated along with his wife, Dawn, on Monday. The couple lost two well-stocked deep freezers, along with supplies, in a late-night fire on Sunday.
A man uses a bucket of water to extinguish a small fire at the Oxford Market in downtown Kingston on Monday.
Nicholas Nunes/Photographer
A man uses a bucket of water to extinguish a small fire at the Oxford Market in downtown Kingston on Monday.
Two handcarts are chained together with scorched agricultural produce in the Oxford Market on Monday. Losses from the late-night fire on Sunday have been estimated at $10 million.
Nicholas Nunes/Photographer
Two handcarts are chained together with scorched agricultural produce in the Oxford Market on Monday. Losses from the late-night fire on Sunday have been estimated at $10 million.
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By the time Dawn and Jermaine Wilks received a telephone call at 4 o’clock Monday morning that fire had destroyed the meat mart they operated in Oxford Market in downtown Kingston, the source of their livelihood had already been turned into glowing embers.

Public Relations Officer Emeleo Ebanks told The Gleaner that preliminary estimates of the blaze, which razed at least four business places and caused extensive damage to others, stood at J$10 million.

Three fire units responded to the call.

The cause of the blaze is yet to be determined.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade received the call about 11:40 Sunday night and cooling-down operations were completed just over two hours later at 1:50.

Mid-morning Monday, two handcarts, chained together and laden with scorched vegetables, ground provisions, gungo peas, pineapples, melons and other produce, stood in mute testimony to the impact of the fire.

As Dawn sat on stool fielding phone calls near what had been the entrance to their meat mart, Jermaine walked among the ruins like a man possessed, at times speaking to himself.

“Everything gone. Nothing saved, nothing fi start back from, so a back to square one. Nothing to start back with at all,” Jermaine, who has one hand, uttered.

Meanwhile, his wife revealed that they had lost everything, including two well-stocked and relatively new deep freezers.

“The two freezers alone $200,000 and the goods in there so is roughlyabout $500,000,” she said, putting into context her husband’s monologue.

As Shanakie Armstrong looked at the wreckage of her father’s shop, from which they had sold phonecards, environmentally friendly shopping bags, and other items, she speculated on the loss of income.

“A it me father use and pay him partner and help take care of my son and run the house,” she said. “Everything lost.”

On the other side of the Wilkses’ shop, the business place was still standing but the roof was extensively damaged, along with five CCTV cameras, while more expensive ‘top-shelf’ drinks had exploded from the heat. Some gaming machines were also destroyed along with a wide range of liquor.

One of the owners put their losses at J$1.2 million.

“Everything bun dung bad, bad,” a boy of about eight years old told The Gleaner, summing up the situation.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com