THE massive August 27 blaze at Superior Parts Limited on Hagley Park Road, St Andrew, left billions of dollars in losses in its wake and a nearby family traumatised by an ordeal they are still struggling to shake two weeks later.

In an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer, Wayne Campbell, who lives with his elderly parents on Macarthur Avenue in a house directly behind the Superior Parts property, explained that he was grateful the fire did not spread to their house. But while the family escaped the worst-case scenario of losing their home, Campbell said they were not spared the frightening effects of the inferno.

He shared that since the blaze, life has changed in a negative way for him, his mother Vinnette Campbell who is in her 80s, and his 92-year-old father Fitzroy Campbell.

Wayne Campbell shows how close the fire came to spreading to his house.

“I am not well and my parents are not well. We had to leave here for four days. When the fire occurred on Thursday [August 27], we went to a hotel for Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night. We had to leave, because when we came back in the house after the fire around 6:00 pm, the smoke was so intoxicating. We were actually struggling to breathe, so we could not sleep in the house based on the smoke. You can see how close the fire was to our house,” he said, sharing that he has asthma.

“When we came back on the Monday we had to clean up in terms of changing all the curtains, sheets, linen and everything. We had piles and piles of garbage, and my mom’s blood pressure went to 215 over 104 so I took her to the doctor on the Friday as a precautionary measure,” Campbell told the Sunday Observer.

He said that his bedridden father was ill before the fire, causing him to not be the most sociable person. Now the experience from the fire has made him retreat further into his shell, and he refuses to speak or say more than two words if asked a question.

Superior Parts Limited in the aftermath of the massive fire on August 27

“Nobody has approached us since the fire to ask how we fared. I don’t know who is going to reimburse us for the monies that have been spent at the hotel and to clean the place. All four nights at the hotel came up to $100,000. There were other expenses as well, but you can’t put a value on the emotional toll that it has taken. My dad was more alert prior to the fire and now he is even more subdued,” Campbell said, adding that the person who would normally tend to his father had to travel to the hotel each of the four days, which was another cost, plus food had to be bought.

He pointed out a few locations in the yard where flourishing trees, including soursop and other fruit trees, stood before the fire.

His mother, Vinnette, joined the discussion in the living room at the house to share how the fire and the unbearable smoke caused her to tremble, even to this day.

“Oh my God, I was shaking and shaking. When we went to the hotel, I cried. Even now when I hear anybody talk about what we went through, I start to cry. It was terrible,” she said.

Wayne Campbell shows his mother’s blood pressure reading after the fire.

During the fire she and her husband were rescued and taken to their neighbours’ house across the road.

“People came and took me out. When I sat over there and when I saw the thickness and blackness of the smoke, I kept asking if the house was gone. It was terrible, man,” the elderly woman expressed.

Campbell took the Sunday Observer to his father’s room where the elder Campbell was laying on his back. He shared that his father’s 92nd birthday was on August 3, and he spent some time in hospital because he has multiple medical conditions including stage four kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension.

Wayne Campbell points to a scorched tree in his yard after the Superior Parts fire on August 27, 2026. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

“He was more attentive. I live with him so I can see all the changes,” Campbell said, sharing that he himself needs to see a counsellor after his traumatic experience.

“I am a teacher, and I have applied for special leave because I am not mentally prepared to go back in front of the classroom. I can’t focus. And, as a matter of fact, I think I need to actually see a counsellor to talk through some of this stuff. I am asthmatic, and during the fire I was accompanied inside the house to get some of my parents’ medication. I didn’t even remember to put on a mask, but I had to get the medication for my dad.

“He takes 14 units of insulin daily for kidney disease, in addition to oral medication and injection. My mom is on a laundry list of medication so I was able to get those medication to bring to the hotel. I had to be strong for my parents. You could not see any white, just black ashes all over the place. It was almost like a scene from a movie… after a bomb was dropped.”