PORTLAND, Jamaica — Though the two buildings were completely destroyed, and the closest hydrant had no water, firefighters managed to keep Sunday night’s raging fire at Clifford Guest House from spreading. It is part of the properties on Titchfield Hill, a heritage site with old Georgian architecture.

Two dozen firefighters from three units fought the blaze. An initial response by two units from Port Antonio was later supported by firefighters from Buff Bay. With the closest hydrant empty, they refilled the tanks of their trucks about 900 metres away on Harbour and West streets.

The structure, once known as Scotia Guest House, went up in flames shortly before 10:00 pm. The 32-room property located on Queen Street, Port Antonio reportedly had three guests at the time of the blaze. Only one of the guests was on site at the time of the blaze; no one was injured.

The cause of the fire and estimated damage is not yet known.

George Brown, who said he has been a caretaker at the property for more than 30 years, was on location at the time of the fire.

He told OBSERVER ONLINE that a woman’s screams and sounds of her running alerted him that something was amiss.

“So mi fly di door and mi hear, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ So mi rush fi go save something and mi see one police man and him sey, ‘Come out before yu dead or bun up in ya!’ Mi grab something and mi nuh know wah mi grab but mi know mi sneakers dem bun up in deh an some clothes,” Brown said.

“The fire started to ten. It’s a big loss, not sure if we will recover, we are going to make a link up and see what can happen,” he added.