Massive fire in Spanish Town

Sections of Brunswick Street was left without electricity after fire of unknown origin destroyed buildings in Spanish Town, St Catherine, yesterday.

The fire occurred along Martin Street, which resulted in the destruction of the Cock Spirit wine factory, a tailor shop, and a three-apartment dwelling house.

Manager of Cock Spirit Wines, Alwyn Thomas, said about four employees were affected.

“There are millions of losses here, it is really wicked. There were machines inside which valued millions. We are still checking the losses but it is very sad,” Thomas said.

According to Patrick Gooden, divisional officer for St Catherine of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, the fire spread rapidly.

“The brigade got the call about 10:30 a.m. Unfortunately, we were on a scene in Bernard Lodge. We responded promptly but upon our arrival, one building with the tailor shop was completely engulfed,” Gooden said.

Nearby, heavy smoke affected students of the St Catherine Basic School.

Patents and guardians were observed removing children from the school compound, which also houses a preparatory school.

Meanwhile, businesses were also affected and this even affected the dead.

“We should have been conducting post-mortem here today. However, with the fire here, the power supply is affected. We will be affected even tomorrow, it will find us with a backlog,” said Michael Archer, CEO of Archers Funeral Home.

Councillor for the Ensom City Division, George Moodie, visited the scene and promised to help.

“Incidentally, I was at the Disaster Preparedness Committee meeting when I got this sad news,” he said.

Moodie promised to collect information of those affected.