MONTEGO BAY, St James — A woodwork shop is now doing double duty as a house for Elan Malcolm, her two children, and a grandchild after fire left 11 homeless in Railway Lane, Montego Bay, Tuesday night.

Others have fortunately found temporary living arrangements with friends or family but Malcolm and her kin have had to make do with the shop, located a few metres from where their house used to be.

“I guess that is where we staying until we can sort out something,” she told the Jamaica Observer after the blaze.

They do the best they can to get comfortable without disrupting the shop’s operations.

Originally from Trelawny, Malcolm has lived at Railway Lane for two years. She said she has lost everything in the blaze. She is worried about her children and hopes their father who still lives in Trelawny will be able to help.

“I don’t know how I’m going to send them back to school; [I] will have to depend on the father,” she said.

The fire, which began just before 8:30 pm, gutted three buildings that at least seven families occupied in a tenement. Merdilyn Delattiebodier, who is among those affected, is in a slightly better position than Malcolm. She has been told that she can occupy a space in the same yard — if only for a short time.

“The guy just give me a little stay in the place and I have to be looking for something else,” she said.

She told the Observer that she was on her way back from buying items to make dinner when she saw the fire and called for help.

“I was going to catch up a little coal fire outside there. When I look I see a big fire in another apartment out here,” she remarked.

Her cries of “Fire! Fire!”‘ attracted a crowd but by then the blaze had spread to her house.

She, too, has lost everything.

Another victim of the fire, Anthony Ramsey, was also amazed at how quickly it spread.

“I had just gone out the road to get something, not even five minutes, only to hear people saying, ‘Fire! Fire!’ When I looked up, it was a big blaze,” he said.

“I lose a bed, papers and other particulars plus some money that I had in the room, as well,” he lamented.

Residents said the fire was fierce from the start.

“It flame up like a mini explosion and everything just go up in flames,” one said.

The wooden houses burned quickly but the swift action of firefighters prevented the fire from consuming more structures in the cramped space. According to Natalie Crawford, someone went to the nearby fire station and the firefighters were quickly on the scene.

“We very grateful because they really put on a good job. They came real quick and we happy for that,” another resident said.

Councillor Richard Vernon (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego Bay South Division) visited the community and said efforts will be made to provide help for those affected. There is the possibility that building material may be provided, he said.

“In terms of immediate response we will get them bedding, clothing, and we will try and see how best we can assist to get some food,” he explained.

He expressed concern that in the last few weeks there have been a number of similar incidents in the division.

“We’ve had to deal with, in the downtown area, three fires in the last month. Last week Saturday, we had one along the train line area of Fustic Road. Two weeks before that we had one at King Street and [now] this one at Railway Lane,” he said, adding that this is the 20th fire he was aware of in his division since 2016.

“It seems very frequent,” he said.

“I would urge persons to be more cautious and to be more vigilant in their area especially when you’re the inhabitants of places that are not made of concrete or fire-resistant materials,” he added.