Fireman recalls cheating death during Jacks Hill blaze

As Damian Dennis crawled on his hands up a blazing hillside, exhausted, dehydrated and scorched, one thought pushed him not to give up – his five-year-old daughter waiting at home.

As the breadwinner for his family, the 47-year-old Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) firefighter knew he had to make it out alive.

“I decided that this couldn’t be the end,” Dennis recalled of the terrifying 2009 incident at Jacks Hill, St Andrew, which remains etched in his memory after 23 years of service. Today, the York Park Fire Station-based sergeant is counting his blessings as he prepares to watch his daughter Dejanae graduate from college in November, a milestone he once feared he would never live to see.