WATCH: 13 homeless after fire in Westmoreland
WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – Four children are among 13 people left homeless after fire destroyed several dwellings at Upstreet Belmont, in Westmoreland on Saturday evening.
One of the owners of the house, Zeton Richards told OBSERVER ONLINE that the blaze was first noticed about 5:45 pm at the back of his house.
“I was talking outside to a friend and mi see the smoke round a di back and my baby girl was in the front room and I run guh in and take her. A di baby alone me cudda save,” a terrified Richards said.
When OBSERVER ONLINE arrived on the scene, scores of residents were seen running and fetching water to help put the fire out. Other persons in the yard were hurriedly removing their furniture and wetting their houses to prevent the fire from spreading.
However, the fire reportedly spread quickly and, soon after, the three other houses in the tightly-packed tenement yard-style space were engulfed.
“Mi nuh save anything. Just the clothes on mi back,” 22-year-old Richards told OBSERVER ONLINE.
“It was a five-bedroom dwelling. Mi haffi guh start back from scratch. Right now my heart a hurt me. I will gladly take any help I can get,” a distraught Richards added.
Richards’ father Geton, popularly known as ‘Pam Pam’, said he was in a state of shock after losing a house to fire for a second time.
“This is the second time I’m losing my house to fire. The first time was in 2017. Mi nuh save anything, only the clothes on my back,” the elder Richards said.
“A nuh wah nice feeling to have to start life all over again. Mi numb, mi alive but mi feel like mi dead. I was coming from church and I got the news that the house on fire, by the time mi reach the house burn down flat,” he added.
“I’m hoping I can get some help to start over again,” Richards pleaded.
One unit each from the Savanna-la-Mar and Black River fire stations reported to the fire about 6:25pm and performed cooling down operations.
A district officer told OBSERVER ONLINE that the cause of the fire is not yet known. No injuries were reported.
Investigations are ongoing.
