The bush fires raging islandwide for the last few days have left devastation in the Aries Avenue community in Smokey Vale, St Andrew.

The blaze on Sunday destroyed one house, leaving a yet-to-be-confirmed number of people homeless.

Up to press time there was no official report provided by the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) but residents, whose names are being withheld, told the Jamaica Observer that the bush fire, which started about noon Sunday, quickly spread to an open lot near the premises.

About mid-morning on Monday in the quiet community, smoke was still coming from the rubble of the open lot while firefighters were busy trying to determine the cause of the fire.

Two chickens walking around in a coop, a dog that was sleeping amid the rubble, and a waste heap with food items were evidence that there were occupants at the house, who residents speculated were squatters.

One resident said she was informed about a child who was hiding in the house, who was later rescued.

“There was a little boy — I understand he was about two or three years old — hiding under the bed and nobody knew he was there, but they eventually got him out,” she said.

One resident explained that he was alerted about the fire by another neighbour.

“I got a message from my neighbour saying there is a fire raging in front of my house. The information I have is that the fire started somewhere near the road, where the old quarters is located, and due to heavy winds there were sparks all over the place,” he said.

He lauded the quick response of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) for putting out the blaze.

“By 12:46 pm the fire brigade was there. Within an hour I was told that they had completed their cooling down operation. If it wasn’t for the fire brigade we would have probably lost more houses,” he said.

One resident said this was not the first time a fire had begun nearby.

“We just saw when the fire started from near the house. This is not the first time it is happening; this is probably the third time. If there wasn’t a fence here, our house would burn down,” she said.

Up to the 67th day of the year Jamaica recorded almost 2,000 bush fires, which triggered concerns among the JFB and Water Resources Authority officials who shared that many of the incidents resulted from carelessness, and that water collected for drinking and other domestic purposes has to be used to put out the flames.

Last week Friday a two-bedroom house belonging to a labourer in St Mary was destroyed after unconfirmed reports revealed that a garbage heap was lit which led to a bush fire that spread to the man’s premises.

There was also a massive bush fire at a former golf course in Ironshore, St James, on that same day.