Several people were left homeless and out of business in St Andrew on Tuesday when fire of unknown origin razed a mixed-use commercial and residential property at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Lyndhurst Road.

Five trucks from the Jamaica Fire Brigade responded to the call about 4pm and firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control, but not before some residents suffered severe losses.

“Everything gone, nothing at all mi have left,” one man who gave his name only as “Danny” told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Danny, who said he has lived at the premises for up to 30 years, told our news team that he had left home briefly to borrow a charger and was alerted to the fire as he made his way back to the dwelling.

“A lady say ‘yuh nuh see fire over deh suh’, she not even know seh ah deh mi live. And you see by the time me grab the hose, fire blow through the rooftop already, mi can’t even run to my bedroom to save a pants or shirt.

“The fire move like a bullet out of a gun,” Danny said.

He said all but two of the seven bedrooms in the residential section of the premises were destroyed by the fire along with a bar, restaurant and a pet shop. Fortunately, all the pets – including birds and a snake – that had been housed in the shop were saved before it was gutted by the fire, residents said.

Kerry-Gayle Forbes, the acting public relations officer for the Jamaica Fire Brigade, said three units from York Park and one each from Trench Town and Half-Way Tree responded to the blaze.

The cost of the damage was not ascertained up to publication time.