WHEN Jerome Kelly responded to nature’s urgent call on Friday night in the gully outside his home at 7A Shortwood Road, Grants Pen, little did he know that he was just minutes away from losing his brother and his home.

A fire, sparked by a candle Kelly left unattended inside his wooden house, claimed the life of his brother Paul Williams and left 12 people, including Kelly, homeless. And up to press time yesterday, residents say they could not locate Williams’ seven-year-old daughter. They believe that she, too, may have perished in the fire, but the police could not confirm this.

Kelly said he was hoping that the child was taken to other relatives earlier that evening.

Loss has been estimated at one million dollars.

Williams, who is believed to be in his early 40s, was burnt to death near midnight after the fire gutted three houses on the gully bank.

Kelly told the Sunday Observer that he had left the candle unattended while he relieved himself in the gully.

Kelly said he was forced to use the gully as the bathrooms on the inside were locked.

“I was not gone long. I never even remember that the candle was in the house, or else when I was finished, I would come right back instead of resting on the bridge,” Kelly told the Sunday Observer.

Kelly sustained burns to his upper body when he tried to put out the blaze. He said he tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire with buckets of water. He then tried using a garden hose, but the water pressure was too low.

Two Jamaica Observer employees were among the estimated 12 people who lost everything in the blaze.

When the Sunday Observer visited the scene yesterday morning, smoke was still rising from the mountain of old zinc and other debris.

Owen Green, an Observer employee, said all he had left were the clothes on his back.

“I don’t have anything left. Everything is gone, including things I have for my mother, and electrical appliances,” he said, admitting that he was still a bit confused.

Green estimated that his total loss is in excess of $400,000, and said he has nowhere to sleep.

Shane Mitchell, another Observer employee who also lost everything in the blaze, said he would move in with his mother “for a while”.

Yesterday, fire also destroyed a building which housed two stores – Wilkins Furniture Co Ltd and Lee’s Chemical Outlet and Wholesale – on Princess Street in downtown Kingston.

No one was injured in that blaze.

Up to press time, fire personnel could not determine the cause of the fire, which left an estimated $10 million in damage. According to the police, at about 5:00 am residents saw fire coming from the building and summoned the fire department.

But as units from York Park, Rollington Town, Trench Town and Spanish Town fire departments carried out cooling down operations later in the day, the Sunday Observer saw a man, who appeared to be an employee of the Jamaica Public Service Company, reading the meter, to the amusement of a number of bystanders.

The City Centre police are investigating.