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KELLITS, Clarendon - Two families in this small town are making an extra effort to cash in on sales this Yuletide season as they try to recover from a fire that destroyed their neighbouring businesses on the night of September 11.The small shops, which operated from metal containers, have reopened. However, the trauma of seeing flames engulf their belongings is still fresh in the owners' minds.It was the third time that Geneiva Smith, better known as Miss Sue, was experiencing a fiery setback at the location where she has been selling cosmetics, snacks, clothes and other items for nearly 40 years.The last time round, however, the loss was more far-reaching. That's partly because it happened months after 65-year-old Smith buried her daughter who became ill and died, leaving three children in her care.In addition, the restrictions implemented islandwide to help fight the novel coronavirus also compounded the senior citizen's losses. The closure of the nearby Kellits High School due to COVID-19, for example, has meant she no longer has her student clientele.Smith told the Jamaica Observer she was reduced to tears on the night of the blaze."I feel very bad, pure tears just falling from my eyes. When I leave from home and reach up here [at the scene], everything already burn down," she said.Fire personnel are yet to say what caused the blaze, which reportedly started at an adjoining cookshop and eventually spread to Smith's store. Neither of the businesses was insured.According to Smith, 'Good Samaritans' have pitched in and helped her to resume operation - a venture that she said has a price tag of just over $3 million.She hopes sales will pick up this festive season for her to earn enough to make a significant payment on her outstanding bills."The sales not fast, but anything wi get wi give God thanks. Sometimes it up and sometimes it down," she added while standing in her new shop.Her husband, Collie Smith, sitting in one corner of the metal structure, also expressed optimism."Mi still feel good that wi open again," he told the Observer. "Everything rough now, but wi haffi fight it through. Wi owe little debt, and suh wi want work an clear it up now."The other family whose cookshop was destroyed in the inferno resumed operations on December 11, and is hoping for a financially merry Christmas too.Donovan Mitchell, better known as Pantar, said he lost more than $1 million worth of items during the blaze."Everything in yah expensive," he said, pointing out the refrigerators, fryers, pots and stove.He is ecstatic that his customers are returning to satisfy their appetites, and he is welcoming new ones as he bounces back from what is the second fire to destroy the business he has been operating for 20 years."People coming back should expect the same Pantar because it's been a while and it's good to be back in business," he said.His wife, Meresa Mitchell, who serves as the cookshop's cashier, is equally happy to be back in business."It's a good feeling knowing that you have loyal customers who look out for you daily, and knowing that they are getting what they really want - the food... I am humbled and grateful. I know it's not my strength but it is because of God's grace and his mercy," she said.The fire could not have come at a worse time for the Mitchells, who have been married for three years. When it happened, the couple had just had their first child and had just moved into their new house.Both families are hoping the September 11 fire is the last devastation they will experience.The chances of saving property from fires in the Kellits area are slim, with the nearest fire station being several miles away. Residents have long been clamouring for a fire station to be built in the town, which is home to several large houses and businesses.The view that Kellits needs a fire station is shared by chairman of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation Winston Maragh."If there is a fire in Kellits or in Croft's Hill or anywhere in that region, by the time the fire truck leaves Frankfield and gets around there everything is flat due to the time it would take and the situation with the roads and all of that," he told the Observer in August.He said, then, that the old Public Works Department yard in Kellits had been identified for construction of a fire sub-station. Noting, however, that the municipality does not have enough funds to undertake the project he appealed for donations from the business community and international funding agencies.