UPDATE: Children burnt to death in Cross Roads fire identified

Jodi-Ann Gilpin, Staff Reporter

Members of the public are being urged to heed fire safety tips, following a blaze which claimed the lives of two children this morning.

The minors have been identified as 10-year-old Nyheema Barrett, who attended the Allman Town Primary School, and four-year-old Shaeem Green, who was a student at the Mulvina White Basic School. 

Assistant superintendent at the York Park fire station in Kingston, Horace Thomas, says preliminary investigations show that the incident, which happened at 5 Heathfield Road in St Andrew, was caused by a mosquito destroyer.

He says the fire department got the call about the fire approximately 4:13 a.m. and three units responded from the York Park, Trench Town, and Half-Way Tree fire stations.

“When we arrived the building was completely engulfed. We learnt that two persons were unaccounted for. When cooling down ended, we discovered the bodies of two children. Preliminary results are showing that a lit mosquito destroyer coming in contact with a flammable material resulted in the fire,” he says.

“It’s always a good thing to have a fire extinguisher present because, except in cases of explosions, fires most times start small,” he continues.