It took the St James Fire Department, with its three fire units and 22 firefighters, almost two hours to contain the blaze that engulfed two buildings on Orange Street, Montego Bay, Saturday morning.
According to Assistant Superintendent Dennis Wallace of the St James Fire Department, the fire started at about 2:10 a.m. and had completely engulfed the two buildings by the time the firefighters made it to the scene.
According to the assistant superintendent, the fire had threatened four other buildings, including a 17th century Georgian House.
Owner of one of the buildings, Austen Oliver Levy, who also lived upstairs, told The Gleaner residents outside pried open an area at the back of the building, enabling him to escape. He was stuck because he couldn't find his keys.
The dollar value of the damage to the building, which housed eight apartments, is still unconfirmed. It was not insured.
Levy's building, which housed the registered office of Levy's Investments - and was the old Masonic Lodge building - was more than 150 years old, while the other building stored items used by fish vendors who sell close by.
- Contributed
BLACK RIVER, ST ELIZABETH:
M&M Jamaica Limited has, for the past seven years, been hosting a mathematics competition in St Elizabeth, where founder and chief executive officer, Don Mullings, grew up.
Mullings said, "Mathematics is important to the efficient execution of all systems."
Dr Randolph Watson, coordinator of the competition, was passionate about its goals as he felt that too often children had a bad impression of the subject.
Subject treatment
According to him, associating a child's first introduction to mathematics with happy or conversely sad feelings, affect the way the subject is treated.
Fifty students participated in this years competition, which was held at Munro College earlier this month.
Ten St Elizabeth high schools participated and were responsible for selecting their top mathematics student from each of the five grades.
Grades seven, eight and nine students used the R.O.S.E Programme, while grades 10 and 11 wrote their exams based on the Caribbean Examinations Council's syllabus.
The percentage score for each student was then calculated and the top-three performers from each grade were awarded a prize.
The scores from each school were averaged to determine the top-three schools.
Hampton High School won this year's competition.
Samantha Rose, a student at Hampton, scored 93 per cent. Munro College was second followed by Black River High.
- Contributed
OLD HARBOUR, ST CATHERINE:
The Centre of Excellence for Advanced Technology in Agri-culture was launched at the Bodles Research Station in Old Harbour, St Catherine, last Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Wayne Henry, special advisor to the minister of agriculture, said the centre would "develop the habitual expressions in the agricultural sector in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region."
Support facilities
The centre is expected to streamline and coordinate all agricultural research and training throughout Jamaica, as well as serve as a nexus for national, regional and international collaboration in agriculture.
The Spanish Government, through the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (Caecid), will fund the first three years of the centre's operations with a US$3-million (J$265.4 million) grant.
Construction of support facilities will begin shortly and will comprise administrative offices, meeting rooms, demonstration plots, seminars and greenhouse facilities.
- JIS