Kingstown fire big blow for Jax Enterprises

A fire of unknown origin scorched a number of businesses in Kingstown over the weekend, leaving one owner out of business and others facing major repair costs.

Two commercial buildings located along Higginson Street went up in flames on the night of Friday, December 20, 2024, sometime after 6:00 p.m.

SEARCHLIGHT understands that the fire started in a smaller building which houses a restaurant, and later spread to the building which retailer, Jax Enterprises Ltd uses as a warehouse. There was also some damage to the building where Dr Boyle’s office and two other medical offices are located.

Firefighters fought to bring the hours-long blaze under control, and only on the following day was it fully extinguished.

Director of Marketing for Jax Enterprises Ltd. Shevrell McMillian, said the team is still working to determine the figure for the losses sustained as a result of the fire. He said preliminary assessments show that more than 50 percent of the stock stored in the warehouse was destroyed. The remaining stock, he explained, sustained water damage from the fire fighting effort.

“We don’t have exact numbers as yet, but I can tell you that we lost more than 50 percent of valuable stock from the fire. We commenced cleaning and clearing the building to salvage what we could … some things we lost to the fire, and some things we lost to the water. Then there is the smoke and the smog that [also] caused damage.”

He acknowledged that firefighters faced a difficult assignment in tackling Friday’s blaze which raged for hours. He said members of the public went to the assistance of the firefighters, with one man using his own equipment to assist the men attack the fire on the upper floors. He added that in retrospect, there are some things that could have been done differently, but they are grateful to the Fire Department for the overall effort, considering the intensity of the blaze.

“We saw an outpouring of support from the public which was very comforting. Jax has always been known as a family business and a home-grown Vincentian business … when we see the people rallying around us, it feels good.”

With the incident occurring four shopping days before Christmas, the retailer considers it to be a major financial blow which also will bring a major repair bill, and put a dent in future expansion plans. Despite these challenges, the business is not considering lay-offs.

“If you go back to times like COVID-19 and the volcanic eruption … we fought it during the

pandemic and we were able to keep staff together. We have decided not to lay-off people this time around. We are going to fight it as much as we can for as long as we can. The expansion will not be going ahead as planned, but we are trying not to contract at the same time,” Mc Millan said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.