MONTEGO BAY, St James Fire yesterday gutted the barracks at Montego Bays Barnett Street Police Station, leaving some 30 members of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) without accommodation.

Thirty-three firefighters from the Freeport and Ironshore fire stations worked over an hour using seven fire units to extinguish the blaze that started shortly after 8:00 am the origin of which was not determined up until late yesterday.

Dolphin Doeman, acting superintendent of the St James division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, praised his charges for confining the blaze to the barracks, popularly called Fourteen, and courageously putting out the blaze.

However, he complained that his team was challenged by two defective fire hydrants near the scene, as well as curious motorists who parked in close proximity to the blaze, hampering the firefighters mobility.

No one was hurt, but police lost their uniforms and personal belongings. One policeman said the blaze claimed over half-a-million dollars which he had borrowed from a bank to purchase a motor car.

He said that the vendor had sold the car in question to another buyer early Monday afternoon, causing him to hold on to the money with the intention of purchasing another car.

Commandant in charge of the St James ISCF Rupert Rushton noted that the displaced personnel will have to be relocated to the Freeport Police Station where they were originally located before recently moving their operations to Barnett Street.

Montego Bay Mayor Charles Sinclair used the opportunity to reiterate his call for the construction of a fire station in the second city, as well as the replacement of a fireboat, which has not worked for years.

We have been without a fire station for some time, said the mayor. The fire station must be constructed. Must! There are no two ways about that. We cant have firemen and women operating in two separate locations part of it operating in Fort Street and the next set operating out of Freeport. That cannot continue to work!.

He also expressed the need for a fireboat, not only for the cruise ships that call on Montego Bay, but for the vessels that are docked in the city.

I have called on the Office of the Prime Minister, ever since I assumed the position. The fireboat must be brought back into service, he said.