A fire that destroyed two restaurants and caused partial damage to a bar at Constant Spring Arcade in St Andrew on Monday morning has left business owners speculating that it was an act of arson.

Watching calmly as firefighters completed cooling-down operations, the business owners were pensive as they assessed the damage.

Restaurant owner Kedeisha Miller said she was at home when she got the dreaded call that her shop was on fire and rushed to the scene. When she arrived she was shocked to find out that it was her restaurant, not her clothing store, also located in the arcade, that was ablaze.

“No shorts something nuh inna my shop and the gas always lock off, so me nah ask you, is people burn it down. I was here yesterday and when I leave everything was good,” she told reporters on the scene, adding that she left the arcade sometime after 5:00 pm on Sunday.

“I’m telling you, the restaurant is going on well, so I know is people do it because me a tell you them people in here, most of them don’t support me. Is like me get support from every other store. The passport office, around one and two will buy, but some of them don’t. I know is somebody burn it down,” Miller insisted.

She said that a large stock of premium liquor that she had bought in preparation for new year celebrations was destroyed in the blaze.

Additionally, furniture and appliances in her restaurant, which she estimated at $3 million in value, were also destroyed.

“I have to fix it up back. That is my plan right now and I have to start right now because, as I tell you, I have a lot of customers and I nuh want my customer base to drop because of this, so I have to hurry up and deal with it so them can get back food inna the new year. Me supposed to up and running by next week,” she declared with optimism.

According to Jamaica Fire Brigade Assistant Superintendent Courtney Thompson, firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC)-owned arcade at approximately 8:05 am. Four units, one each from the Half-Way-Tree and Stony Hill stations, and two from York Park, were dispatched. A total of 24 firefighters were on the scene.

Preliminary investigations estimate $6.8 million in losses, said Thompson.

The cause of the fire was not yet revealed up to press time.

However, Tyrone Simpson, part-owner of the other restaurant that was destroyed, is adamant that a swift investigation needs to take place.

“It wasn’t being operated as a restaurant. It closed down, so we were supposed to renovate it. Nothing was actually going on there, we just packed up everything and leave it. We had big plans for it next month,” he said, puzzled as to how the store caught fire.

However, he said he would not let the incident ruin his new year.

“Nothing in life can set me back. Once I have life, I can still go on; but the thing about it is I just want to know where we go from here, if the KSAMC will sort it out,” he told the
Jamaica Observer.

Similar sentiments of a positive new year were shared by Karlene Spencer whose bar was slightly damaged by the blaze.

“I accepted life a long time ago for what it is, so I don’t let much bother me. Fire is fire. If it’s rain, whatever comes, I accept it. No pressure on the heart about it. The show has to go on. So if is fire, we start again because all is not lost,” she said.

“There are worse than me. There are shops that are gone, there are shops that burn out completely. I sustained some damage. I can repair. They have to rebuild; I can repair… You don’t sit and cry. You don’t murmur over this. Sometimes when we planning God is wiping out, so who knows,” said Spencer.