Norman Grindley, Gleaner Writer

With just hours to go before Christmas Day, Witcliffe Rhoden would have been busy making final preparations for the holidays. However, all those preparations are now secondary as fire destroyed his four-bedroom house at Bryden Street in east Kingston yesterday morning.

Started in morning

The fire which started around 10: 30 a.m., ravaged the two-storey building which had dwelling quarters upstairs and an ice-cream shop downstairs. Two families of six have been left homeless.

One unit from the Rollington Town Fire Station put out the blaze with the assistance of a water tender from the York Park Fire Station.

"I was downstairs bathing my little daughter when someone shouted 'fire, fire!'. I look up and see smoke coming from the top floor. I rushed upstairs but could not save anything,"a distraught Mr. Rhoden told The Gleaner.

The Rollington Town police say the loss from the fire is estimated at $2 million. The cause of the fire is not known.