Multimillion-dollar fire destroys three Glendevon businesses

Western Bureau:

Tears flowed freely along Sun Valley Road in Glendevon, St James, on Tuesday morning as the full extent of a devastating overnight fire, which gutted three business places, was revealed under the glare of the morning sun.

“I lose everything .... two fully loaded deep freezers, two televisions, all the stock I had on the shelves, equipment, a generator, and a sum of money I had in there,” said Kayon Spence, the operator of Cool Spot Grocery, which was gutted.

Spence, who also operated a Supreme Ventures outlet, said all the gaming machines were destroyed in the blaze.

“Honestly, I can’t put a dollar figure on what I have lost at this moment, but it runs into millions of dollars in equipment, stock and other valuables,” continued Spence, wiping tears from her eyes. “I was just getting over the damage that was done by Hurricane Mellissa, and now I am facing this new disaster.”

Businessman Frank Boswell, who owns the garage adjoining Cool Spot Grocery, was also severely impacted by the fire, which he said started about 3:40 a.m. In addition to raising an alert and contacting the St James branch of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, he tried to fight the blaze using a hose from his establishment.

“I rushed out when I saw the fire, which had spread from a tyre shop next door to the section of the garage that house a body work operation. I could see some of the cars on fire,” he said. “I tried my best to douse the fire to prevent it from spreading to other cars and other sections of the garage.”

“Luckily, the fire trucks came quickly, five trucks came, and they were able to put out the fire on the burning cars, while stopping it from spreading,” he added.

Junior Parnell, who operates the body workshop in the garage, appeared dazed when The Gleaner spoke with him. He recounted jumping out of bed and driving at full speed to the garage after being alerted to the fire.

“When I got here the fire trucks had just arrived, I could see that four cars, including one belonging to me, had been destroyed,” he said. “Also I lost all my tools, including million-dollar tools I recently bought, I also lost material and other things…. by just looking I can see over $10 million in damage, which include vehicles belonging to customers, and I have not yet done a detailed assessment….honestly, this is a very big setback and I just don’t see how I am going to get over this.”

Canute ‘Tyre Doctor’ James, the owner-operator of the tyre shop where the fire is believed to have started, lost everything, including his four-apartment board-and-concrete house, which adjoins the area where he repairs tyres. However, he appeared more grateful for escaping with his life than focused on the material damage.

“I was asleep inside, and a sound like rain was falling woke me up. Thinking it was rain, I was rushing outside to set two buckets to catch the rain water when I realise the place was on fire .... had I not gone out with the hope of catching what I thought was rain water, I would have been trapped inside,” he said. “While me lose everything, mi still have to give thanks because mi still have me life.”

“I lost everything in the tyre shop and the house…. all my tools, compressor, tyres I was repairing, my bed, all my clothes, all my appliances, television, refrigerator, and some money I had in the house … everything,” he added.

With none of the three entities covered by insurance, Spence, James and Parnell are now facing an uncertain future. All expressed concern about where the funding will come from to re-establish their businesses.

“Right now I am ready to take whatever help I can get, because I have lost everything and I don’t know how I am going to start over. The tears you see running down by face are tears of of both disappointment and fear... I honestly don’t know how the process and handle this terrible blow,” said Spence, as friends, neighbours and customers worked together to clear out burnt items and power-wash the interior of her business.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com