ST ANDREW, Jamaica — Emeleo Ebanks, public relations officer at the Jamaica Fire Brigade says there have been no reports of deaths or injuries resulting from the massive blaze at Premier Plaza in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew.

According to Ebanks, the fire started on the roof of an area that houses Essential Solar. The establishment sells solar panels and other electrical supplies.

Five units were sent to the location to battle the blaze.

Ebanks said the firefighters’ top priority is to prevent the blaze from spreading to the area of the building that houses batteries. He expressed that if the fire is not contained, the latter could be catastrophic.

“As it is, we have the roof of Essential Solar that is on fire. We intend, at this time, to ensure that the fire stays to just that area as below that roof area is where the batteries are stored and that is the area that we definitely don’t want the fire to get to because that can lead to explosions,” he said.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. Investigations will be conducted once the blaze is contained.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses say they are happy everyone in the general vicinity of the blaze made it out safely.

“I think everyone made it out in time, nobody was hurt. Probably the only thing was maybe the smoke affected a lot of people – those who have asthma, shortness of breath and stuff like that,” one woman told OBSERVER ONLINE.