Labour ministry expects minimal disruption after fire
Published:Thursday | December 23, 2021 | 12:06 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has reported that it expects no more than a week of delayed operations after a historic building at the corner of North and East streets in Kingston was engulfed by fire early Tuesday morning.
Permanent Secretary Colette Roberts Risden informed The Gleaner that the damage to the property was minimal as only one of the two buildings in the area, dubbed the heritage building, was destroyed.
The structure, which is partially made of bricks, had been vacant for more than 20 years. The wooden interior was destroyed.
The medical building sited beside the heritage structure sustained minor exterior damage, said Roberts Risden. A car that was parked in front of the burning building also escaped damage.
The medical building is used to accommodate the testing of farmers for the overseas farm work programmes.
Labour Minister Karl Samuda said that the fire would not interfere with the services and regular work of the ministry. This is especially so because the medical building had been closed for business a week prior and is not expected to reopen until the first week in January.
However, he suspects that the fire was caused by an electrical fault.
“Because it was not a building that was utilised, it has not disrupted our operations to any significant extent,” said the permanent secretary.
The ministry is now gearing up to conduct clean-up activities to ensure that the medical building can be fully utilised.
Roberts Risden was unable to estimate the cost of damage because the investigation is still ongoing. The Jamaica Fire Brigade has notified the ministry that a report would be issued by Thursday.
The fire brigade said it received a call about 1:05 a.m. on Tuesday and deployed 28 firefighters from four units – three from York Park and one from Rollington Town.