Linstead fire victim mulls bouncing back; his wholesale not insured

Leon Anderson, better known as Father Wayne, is trying to pick up the pieces after fire last week gutted his wholesale, which he said was not insured.

Sixteen employees have been affected by the disaster at “Yours Wholesale”, which is located across from Rose Duncan Park in Linstead town, St Catherine.

“About 16 people right now I am wondering what to do with them; how can I help them active with even three or two days for the week because everybody has a family to feed. I am thinking of the short term to do something in the meantime. I won’t sell wide-scale what I used to sell because of space and everything, but I could do something to employ them,” Anderson told The Beacon.

He further asserted: “I have been there already and I can do it (bounce back) again.”

Yours Wholesale is still out of operation after being damaged by fire

The cause of the February 17 blaze is yet to be ascertained.

Acting Assistant Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade Esmond Hewie told The Beacon last week that fire personnel in Linstead got a call about the inferno at mid-night. They responded with one unit from Linstead and two from Spanish Town.

Hewie added that the estimated loss is $70 million and the properties at risk had an estimated value of $200 million.

“This is a great loss,” Anderson said. “With goods and equipment, it is near $100 million [worth of properties lost], to me.”

Leon ‘Wayne’ Anderson. File photo

Anderson, who also operates Ackee Pod Restaurant and Bar, started out in business as a taxi operator.

“As a poor guy, I couldn’t even go to school for too long, because I had my life to live and my mother was poor and couldn’t push me further,” he said in a previous interview.

He became a father while attending Dinthill Technical High School; he was three years old when his father John Anderson died.

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