WATCH: Fire at Central Sorting Office contained to storage area – JFB
KINGSTON, Jamaica— A fire at the Jamaica Post Central Sorting Office on South Camp Road in Kingston on Monday was contained to a storage area, officials from the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) said.
Stewart Beckford, Commissioner at the JFB, said the fire began approximately 9:08am and seemed to have spread from a garbage fire which was lit outside to a storage area inside the building which held old mail.
“Sparks emitting from the burning would have travelled through a vent and would have landed in the storage area where old mail was being stored and that would have caught on fire. The good news in all of that is the fire has been contained to that general area. There is no threat to the building itself,” Beckford said.
He told Observer Online that the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but it is reported that a person of unsound mind may have been cooking at the back of the building when the incident occurred.
There were no reports of injury from the fire, as all staff members were evacuated. However, Dr Dana Morris Dixon, Minister Without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister said that one person from Jamaica Post had an asthma attack and several members from the business process outsourcing company Sutherland, which rents a space on the building, experienced fainting spells and were rushed to the hospital.
Operations at the sorting office have been suspended for the rest of the day. The Fire Commissioner stated that the Firefighters will be assisting with ventilation so operations could resume on Tuesday.
