A resident from Smith Lane uses a burst section of a fire hose to help firefighters put out a blaze on Tuesday. - ian allen

Fire gutted a two-storey building on Smith Lane in Central Kingston, an area also known as 'Spoilers' yesterday.

Residents say that the fire started about noon and the cause is still unknown.

Elfreda Scarlett, 75, one of the fire victims, was seen sitting on a bench looking quite despondent. Residents say Scarlett did not save anything at all and that all her family members lived overseas.

Shock and disbelief

Scarlett was alone in her room when the fire started and was rescued by a young man called 'Sweetie'.

Very much in shock and disbelief, Scarlett asked for her slippers. "Sweetie go fi mi slippers nuh, mi lef them under the red plastic chair inna the room," she asked a resident.

The other fire victims were either not on the scene or too shock to speak. Residents openly expressed their views, "Mi nuh like them house weh join on, if anything you can't get fi run, a dat mek dem nuh save nothing," one said.

Member of parliament for the area, Ronnie Thwaites, sympathised with the victims. "Thank God that no lives were lost, however fires of this nature happens all the time in this area. It is due to the board structure and many of these electric wires are over 60 years old," he said. "What we are working on now is to make sure that they will have somewhere to go and we will definitely see how best we can assist with the rebuilding process."

An estimate of the damage has not yet been ascertained and the Kingston Central police are investigating.