Four homeless after Temple Hall fire

TEMPLE HALL, St Andrew:

At least four people are now homeless after fire of unknown origin destroyed a nine-bedroom concrete house at the foot of Clark’s Hill in Temple Hall, St Andrew, shortly after 10:45 a.m. Wednesday.

The victims, whose age ranges from 45 to 81 years old, are struggling to come to grips with the mid-morning fire which destroyed all their belongings, including clothing, furniture, valuable documents, a substantial amount of cash, cell phones, and other electronic devices.

Owner of the house, 74-year-old Pamela Blake, who was obviously distraught, said they heard a strange sound at the back of the house, shortly before realising that smoke was coming from a section of the building.

She was kept busy on the phone, trying to reach other family members during the raging inferno, while her daughter was standing elsewhere in a state of shock.

“I just moved the cars out of the way before fire was seen coming from sections of the house,” said Blake.

“We lost everything in the fire and I still can’t believe that this has happened. My son is away in the United States and I am sure that this terrible incident will shake him up. We lost everything in the blaze and I am not even sure what will be our next move. The fire truck took an awfully long time to come, and if they had arrived a bit earlier, probably they would have saved a section of the house,” she added.

RESIDENTS ANGRY

Firefighters who arrived on the scene shortly after noon started cooling-down operations, much to the anger of some residents, who lashed out at them for failing to respond in a timely manner.

According to a group of residents, the Stony Hill fire station is about 10 to 15 minutes away, but the unit took more than an hour and a half to arrive on the scene, which they argued resulted in total loss of the dwelling house.

Several loud explosions were heard coming from the blaze at regular intervals, which the police said were caused by propane gas cylinders.

Among the persons left homeless is 81-year-old Earl Burton, who was at a nearby river collecting sand to do some tiling on a room when he reportedly saw smoke coming from the direction of the house.

“Mi see di smoke and den mi fly cum up, and when mi come up mi couldn’t go inna my room at all,” said Burton.

“Mi a work wid dem (owners of the house) for 34 years. Mi save couple piece a mi clothes. Mi save mi suit. Mi save one pair a shoes and mi save likkle food. Dem (firefighters) teck too long fi come, man. Dem could a save a half of di house or a part a di house from dem call dem,” he said.

Another fire victim, who gave her name only as Donna and who is a tenant at the house, said she was a work when she was told that her house was on fire. She, too, lost everything in the blaze.

Among the items lost in the blaze are several queen-sized beds, two refrigerators, smart television sets, laptops, standing fans, washing machine, three sets of sofa, reclining beds, wardrobes, dressers, and three four-burner gas stoves.

The cause of the fire has not yet been ascertained and it is not known if the house was insured.