A man died during a house fire at his home in Newton, St. Elizabeth, which left multiple of his relatives injured.
The deceased has been identified as 40-year-old Ezra Gayle. Reports state residents in the community heard screams sometime after 4 a.m. on Thursday and saw fire coming from Gayle’s 12-bedroom house.
A resident who was at the scene shared that they were not able to assist Gayle due to his location, and they did not have enough help.
“We help three come out, but the next one, we couldn’t make it round a dat side cause di fire weyn too much pon dat side. If wi did have more help, wi coulda manage, but the help neyn di deh,” the resident shared.
Three of Gayle’s relatives, one male and two females, were injured during the fire, while a teenager escaped without injury. The blaze was extinguished by two units from the Santa Cruz fire station.
According to Superintendent Kimar Brooks, the Divisional Commander for St. Elizabeth Fire Department, the cause of the blaze is not yet known. Brooks appealed to homeowners of dwellings with grills to leave a key in a central area so that all occupants could have access to it.
“I want to use this medium also to encourage persons who occupy dwellings that are grilled to ensure that the keys are kept at a central location so all occupants can have access in cases like this. I also want to encourage the citizens here in St. Elizabeth to be familiar with the telephone numbers for the fire stations in your area because this will aid in our response time, so we can get to the scenes as fast as possible,” Brooks said.
