ST ANDREW, Jamaica — Nineteen people are homeless after a fire ravaged several dwellings in a tenement yard on Barbican Road in St Andrew on Saturday.

“Everything got destroyed, papers, clothin… right now I am barefoot, whatever you see me in now it’s just this[ I have], nothing else,” Phillip Salmon, one of the victims, told Observer Online.

At least one person was injured in the blaze which was reported to the fire brigade just before 3:00 am. Another victim of the fire, who only identified himself as “Raymond”, recounted the ordeal.

“We woke up to [the] fire wicked. We couldn’t save anything, everything fry, I jumped the wall and the next man that tried doing the same thing with me is in hospital with his leg broken and [serious] burns,” Raymond said.

In the aftermath, sections of the premises appeared flattened with burnt zinc and other debris strewn about.

The scene was attended by St Andrew North Eastern Member of Parliament, Delroy Chuck, who indicated that he would work to ensure the rebuilding process would come with better homes than what was lost.

“If you ask me, I would like to see the place cleared up and we just put in some decent social housing so that the people who are here can be put in these apartments if possible. So out of this great sadness we we hope something constructive can emerge,” Chuck, who is also the justice minister, said.

St Andrew Eastern MP and Finance Minister Fayval Williams, who was also present at the scene, promised assistance for the victims.

“This is a major, major disaster to which the government has to respond immediately. We know new housing cannot be built overnight but we can begin with the reconstruction in terms of helping to clear away the debris that’s here,” she said.

Also on site was the councillor for the Waterloo Division, the Jamaica Labour Party’s Winston Ennis who indicated that building material would be distributed as soon as possible to residents who suffered partial damage.

People’s National Party caretaker for St Andrew Eastern, Patricia Duncan Sutherland also showed support at the scene.

“Whenever there is a fire like this that devastates so many different families, it is very difficult for the recovery process. So, as representatives, we come and find out what is going on,” Duncan Sutherland said.

“I want everybody to understand when a fire happens, it’s not a politics business, it’s a Jamaica business,” she continued. “It’s Jamaican people who are suffering. So I expect that we will all work together to work out how can we assist in the process.”

The cause of the fire, the losses of which are estimated at $20 million, has not yet been ascertained.