Wyndham to update tourism ministry on hotel blaze

Tourism Minister, Dr. Wykeham McNeill, says the management of the Wyndham Kingston hotel is to update his ministry on its plan of action for reopening the hotel following yesterday’s fire.

Dr. McNeill has described the incident as a tragedy, noting that the kitchen, dining and convention areas which were damaged are critical to the operations of the facility.

The tourism minister says while the rooms were not damaged structurally, up to yesterday, the building was filled with smoke and the facility was without water and electricity.



Dr. McNeill says the fire is a big blow to the property which had a very good occupancy level at the time of the blaze.

The tourism minister says his ministry will be examining how to go forward with the hotel closed.

However he says he is happy there were no injuries.

He also praised the staff of the hotel and the firefighters who responded for their professionalism.

Meanwhile, fire personnel are set to return to the Wyndham Kingston this morning, as they seek to identify the cause of yesterday’s massive fire at the hotel.

Assistant Commissioner Raymond Spencer says a team was at the hotel up to yesterday evening conducting cooling down activities.

He says the fire department has a theory about what caused the fire which started in the Kitchen shortly before midnight Wednesday.

But he says a team will be sifting through the rubble and looking at every member to ensure an accurate conclusion is arrived at regarding the cause.

Most of the damage was confined to the kitchen and ballroom areas.

Seven units from, Half Way Tree, York Park and Spanish Town fire stations and a team of 60 firefighters responded to the fire.

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