Gareth Manning, Staff Reporter

FireFighters who responded to a potentially dangerous fire at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston, were yesterday accused of arriving more than 45 minutes late at the site of the 18-floor hotel.

"I arrived there at the start of the fire minutes to 12 (noon) and fire trucks took between half an hour and 45 minutes to arrive," one woman told The Gleaner.

Pollster Bill Johnson, who was also a guest at the hotel, said the response from the fire units was slow. He said the trucks were not on site until about half hour after the start of the fire.

Response time good

But firefighters defended their response, noting that six units from the Half-Way Tree, York Park, Rollington Town and Stony Hill fire stations responded to the call which was received at 12:06 yesterday afternoon.

"Initially when we received the call, all our units were tied up at different locations and so we had to pull units from various locations to respond, hence there was a delay, but our response was much less than 45 minutes," said acting divisional head for the Kingston and St. Andrew Fire Brigade, Lansford Williams.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, investigators say, and there were no injuries or fatalities at least one female worker had to be taken to hospital following the incident. An estimated 382 people were occupying the hotel at the time of the fire.

Hotel officials could not say when the hotel would be back in operation, but arrangements have been made for guests to continue their stay at the neighbouring Hilton and Courtleigh hotels. The Pegasus' administrative services will also be conducted from the Hilton.

Other buildings destroyed

Meanwhile, two other commercial buildings were damaged by fire in Kingston yesterday, as the country continues to grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Dean.

Two commercial buildings at 70 and 72 Orange Street in downtown Kingston had all their contents destroyed yesterday following an explosion about 1:29 Tuesday morning.

Assistant Superintendent, John Morais of the fire brigade said the cause of the fire is still unknown, but indications are that the source of the blaze was electrical.

"After the power came back there was some explosion, but our investigations are not conclusive," he said.

Only the building at 70 Orange Street - an electronics store - was insured. The damage is estimated at several million dollars.

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com