ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É

Grief clung to the air like smoke on Price Lane in Kingston on Tuesday afternoon, where a sudden fire gutted a tenement yard and left families, some with young children, with nothing but memories and charred remains.

When THE STAR arrived on the scene, chaos gripped the narrow lane. Charred mattresses and blackened appliances littered the street. Pots, stoves, and household items were dragged outside in a desperate attempt to salvage what little could be saved. Plumes of smoke hung in the air, and people moved frantically, some running back and forth to offer help, while others stood frozen, capturing the scene on their phones. A few brave residents climbed to pull down tangled electrical wires, fearing they could spark more danger.

"Look how much man out yah and dem stand up and nah help," one visibly frustrated resident shouted, as others struggled to contain the situation before firefighters arrived.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade was eventually able to bring the blaze under control. However, by then, the damage was extensive. Several homes were already gutted, and entire families left with nothing. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Among those hardest hit was Suchana Brown, a mother of five who has lived in the lane for over a decade. She resides at the home with four of her children, ages 23, 20, 16, and nine. Still shaken, Brown said she fainted when she heard about the fire.

"Right now, me affi mek farrin call, all kind a call 'cause mi nah work. Mi nuh know weh mi ago do," she said, tears streaking her face. "Everything gone, nothing nuh save. All me documents gone, everything." The fire struck just as Brown was preparing for the back-to-school rush.

"Mi just say me a go dung a PATH fi collect dem things. Mi dedicate today fi that," she added, in disbelief.

A short distance away, a grandmother clutched her sobbing granddaughter, one of the children displaced by the blaze. The teen's mother had left earlier in the day for work in Portmore.

"A wah day me follow her go pick up her diploma dem a school eno," the grandmother recalled. "Me and her go a HEART go look one likkle work. Now she nuh have nuh house fi come back to."

The elderly woman, who lives further up the road, lamented the suddenness of it all.

"It sad, man. Just outta the blue so, today yuh deh yah and tomorrow yuh house gone," she said. However, she expressed gratitude that there was no electricity in the house at the time.

"A because the light gone. The likkle girl coulda ketch a fire inna the house eno. Every day dem lock up inna the house. Me a tell yuh say... a God!" she said.