OCHO RIOS, St Ann — There is no festivity this Christmas, but rather sorrow and grief for a family of seven as they are now without a place to call home.

On December 17, patriarch Anthony Kirkland stood dismayed as he watched the house in which he settled with his family in Great Pond, Ocho Rios, in the parish being ravaged by flames.

His wife screamed repeatedly for help from neighbours, and his four-year-old son jumped from the top floor from a cable wire and hurt his knee just to get to safety.

Kirkland, though grateful everyone made it out alive, is still distraught.

Tuesday morning saw him rummaging through rubble and contemplating his next move.

“I wasn’t expecting this to happen at all, right now mi still shock. But all mi can say is, ‘Thank you, God, my children and wife safe,’ because they were in the house when the fire started. I was thinking about their safety more than anything else,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

The 46-year-old was a short distance away from the house operating a shop he owns in the community when he saw smoke coming from the property.

“When… mi realise that it was fire… mi try to go upstairs and rescue them, but is like mi did a go pass out because the house was covered in smoke. But is like a spirit say remember that you pass the kids on the veranda. Mi run go back outside to try and get them down from that end, but a neighbour did already come over and build up like some chair and take over the baby, and mi wife let down one of the cable wire so mi son could him jump off,” Kirkland detailed.

“I was also thinking about the fact that it is not my house and where I’m gonna get money to build back the place,” he added.

Brought to tears as he stared at his hard-earned belongings now reduced to ash, he replayed the tragic events of the day.

He explained that it had been challenging for him and his wife of 12 years, Tamara Kirkland, to make a better life for their family.

“We are originally from Portland, but we just come down here to see if we can make life. We do any little thing, like cut yard, and mi have a little shop where mi sell fruits and other foodstuff to see if we can make ends meet,” Kirkland shared. “We buy our settee, fridge, furniture, and people who gravitate to us give us things for the kids, [but] within half-an-hour everything gone!”

Tamara, 32, is also having a hard time coping with the loss.

“It is not easy, but I try to remain calm and keep a smile on my face, because that is the only way I can cope. I realise that if I think about it’s the more I get emotional. Knowing that my son was on the veranda and he had to jump off just brings me to a sad place. But once we have life we will be fine,” she told the Observer.

The family is now trying to figure out its next move as they have been staying with a friend in the community since the fire.

They have a 23-year-old adopted son, two younger sons who are nine and seven years old, and a four-month-old daughter.

“Right now we a stay in a room around the road and we really appreciate it because the lady very kind to us. We are planning to see if we can find somewhere [though] we won’t have any furniture or so to go in it,” the family patriarch told the Observer.

“The kids keep saying them want to go home, but because I don’t want to depress them any more I don’t take them back to the place that was burnt down.

“Even the little money that mi adopted son just start work burn up in the house, so him really don’t have anything but the clothes on him back. I could never imagine that something like this would happen to my family. But once we have life we will build back,” he added.

Those who wish to help may contact Anthony Kirkland at (876) 288-0071 or donate to account number 602598 in the name of Tamara Kirkland at the Ocho Rios Branch of Scotiabank.