The National Fire Authority (NFA) farewelled its Chief Executive Officer John O’Connor during a farewell ceremony held at the NFA Headquarters in Suva today.

The NFA staff were joined by Minister For Local Government, Housing, Environment, Infrastructure and Transport Honourable Parveen Kumar Bala along with his Assistant Minister Honourable Lorna Eden, Executive Chairman Commander Francis Kean and Acting Permanent Secretary for Local Government, Housing and Environment Kolinio Bola at the farewell ceremony.

Honourable Minister Kumar who is also the Minister responsible for the NFA delivered the farewell address on behalf of the Government and commended Mr O’Connor for his strong leadership contribution as NFA CEO in the past three years.

“Mr O’Connor has diligently managed and led the Authority to achieve significant milestones in the reforms of NFA including Institutional Reforms, Human Resources Development, Construction of new Fire

The National Fire Authority (NFA) advises home owners to be mindful of fire safety following the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Winston.

Electrical problems, use of candles, kerosene lanterns, mosquito coils, etc can lead to a major fire at home. Home owners are advised to take extra care to ensure their home is fire safe.

NFA Chief Fire Officer Qionilau Moceitai said it is very important that home owners are mindful of fire safety whenever they use candles, mosquito coils, kerosene lanterns, etc while there is no electricity at home.

Also home owners must be mindful that they check the electrical wirings for their appliances to ensure there is no damage caused by the cyclone as it can lead to a fire.

Mr Moceitai also advises business owners to conduct fire safety inspections of their properties to minimize the risk of an electrical fire.

Home owners are advised to be mindful of the

The National Fire Authority (NFA) attended to a house fire incident this morning at Lovelove Bulileka, Labasa which destroyed a five bedroom wooden house, leaving seven people homeless.

At 0514hrs, NFA Labasa received the fire emergency call and immediately responded to the fire call.

Upon arrival at 0525hrs, Fire Team saw the house fully engulfed in flames.

Firefighters used deliveries of water from the fire trucks to extinguish the fire.

Family were at home when the fire happened and they were able to get out of the house safely. NFA investigations are underway to determine the cause of the fire.

NFA Chie Fire Officer Qionilau Moceitai is reminding home owners on the importance of fire safety at home.

“It is very important for home owners to pay more attention to fire safety at home and be mindful of fire ignition sources such as mosquito coils, candles, prayer diyas, electrical appliances, electrical wirings, etc

The National Fire Authority (NFA) received seven fire trucks from the Minister for Local Government, Housing, Environment, Infrastructure and Transport Honourable Parveen Kumar Bala during a handing over ceremony at the NFA Head Quarters in Suva today.

The seven fire trucks were purchased from the Country Fire Authority of Victoria, Australia following the Government’s $400,000 grant allocations to the NFA for the purchase of second hand fire trucks to adequately resource the 17 Fire Stations around the country and $200,000 for the purchase of specialized equipment.

During his speech at the handing over ceremony, Honourable Bala said that he was happy to hand over the seven fire trucks to the NFA.

“The acquisition of the seven fire trucks will enhance the NFA’s responsiveness to any emergency with a boost in the vehicle capacity in all its Fire Stations.

Along with the fire trucks, CFA has donated

The National Fire Authority (NFA) commenced the Rescue Techniques follow-up training for the firefighters at the NFA headquarters in Suva today.

The training is organized by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and will be conducted by the Osaka Fire Department and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kansai Training Centre officials.

Seventeen firefighters will be attending the four days of follow-up Rescue Techniques training.

Speaking at the official opening of the Rescue Techniques follow-up training, JICA Fiji Office Resident Representative Hiroyuki Sawada said the training is very important for firefighters.

“The training will further enhance firefighters competencies in rescue and disaster management.

During the four days of intensive training, firefighters will be trained on Road Accident Rescue, High Angle Rescue, Low Angle Rescue and taught various means of rescue techniques.

Mr

The National Fire Authority (NFA) attended to a Road Accident Rescue (RAR) at the Walu Bay round-a-bout in Suva this afternoon and safely rescued a man who was trapped inside a car.

At 1548hrs, NFA Suva received a RAR call and immediately responded to the call. Upon arrival at 1550hrs, the NFA Rescue Team saw that a 20-foot container had fallen on the car and a man was trapped inside the car.

With the assistance of a semi-trailer side lifter, Firefighters managed to free the vehicle from beneath the container and quickly got to work with the use of hydraulic rescue equipment to extricate the vehicle and safely rescue the man out of the vehicle. The man was then transported to the hospital in NFA's Ambulance.

The National Fire Authority (NFA) completed the Rescue Techniques Follow-Up training for the firefighters at the NFA headquarters in Suva today.

Seventeen firefighters were handed their certificates for completing the three days of training.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Japan International Cooperation Agency Deputy Resident Representative Ichiro Mimura said the follow-up Rescue Techniques training has instilled firefighters with enough knowledge and skills to attend to any nature of accidents and rescue people from life threatening physical danger.

Firefighters were trained on vehicle accidents and specialized training was provided on “High Angle Rescue and Low Angle Rescue”. Firefighters were also trained on Hybrid Vehicles especially dealing with accidents caused by such vehicles.

“Such trainings are very important and I thank the NFA for facilitating this training in collaboration with Osaka

Quick action by the National Fire Authority (NFA) firefighters averted a major fire disaster at RC Manubhai in Raiwaqa, Suva last night.

At 2307hrs, NFA Suva received a fire emergency call and immediately responded to the fire call. Upon arrival at 2318hrs, the Fire Team saw the RC Manubhai Service Centre at Level 1 on fire.

The Fire Team extinguished the fire and stopped the fire from completely destroying the Service Centre and spreading to the other parts of the RC Manubhai building.

The RC Manubhai Service Centre was partially damaged. NFA investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.

Chief Fire Officer Qionilau Moceitai thanked the caller for the early call to the NFA.

“Early fire call is very important and we thank the caller for the quick call which enabled a faster response from the Fire Team to put out the fire quickly.