National Fire Authority (NFA) is investigating two major commercial fire incidents that occurred last night.

At 7.55 pm yesterday, the Ba Fire Station received a fire emergency call informing of a fire incident at Ba Central Market Arcade and the fire crew responded immediately. Upon arrival at the scene at 8.00 pm, the fire crew saw buildings at the arcade on fire. The crew quickly established two delivery of water from the fire truck to extinguish the fire.

A total of 6 retail shops that included a barbershop, a restaurant, an electronic shop, and other shops were destroyed in the fire. Also destroyed in the fire was a Small Business Enterprise which had stalls for people to sell handicrafts and artifacts.

The windy condition at the time of the fire incident hampered the fire crew’s efforts to fight the fire but the team fought hard to stop the spread of the fire to other nearby buildings and the Ba Museum which was about 5-6 meters away from the burning building.

In the second fire incident, a major fire broke out at Tappoo Warehouse along Carpenters Street, Raiwai in Suva last night.

A call was received by NFA Suva Control at 11.46 pm and the Suva Fire crew responded immediately. Upon arrival at the scene, the fire crew saw the Tappoo Warehouse on fire. The crew quickly established one delivery of water from the fire truck to extinguish the fire and stop its spread.

The high content of flammable materials contributed to the quick spread of the fire within the building but the crew managed to control the fire and stop its spread to other major business warehouses few meters away from the burning building and the adjacent building of RC Manubhai.

NFA Chief Executive Officer Mr. Puamau Sowane said this pandemic has affected many people and businesses and urges everyone to be alert and vigilant and take fire safety seriously.

CEO Sowane emphasized that fire safety is crucial for all businesses and property owners and it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that their properties are fire compliant. 

“Business owners should take stock of their fire safety capability and take advantage of fire safety awareness programs that NFA can offer to either eliminate or enable the early mitigation of fire damage to their property,” he said.

According to statistics recorded by the National Fire Authority (NFA), from January this year to the month of June, a span of over six months, a total of 51 structural fire incidents were recorded, compared to 57 fire incidents same period last year.

The total cost of damage due to these fires has been estimated at $4.1 million, which is alarming for a period of 6 months. Attending to these fire incidents has incurred a cost of over $263,000 to NFA.

The situation involving coronavirus (COVID-19) is unprecedented and many businesses have made decisions that they have not faced before. CEO Sowane encourages every member of the Fiji community to help prevent any fire incident as it adds to greater economic losses.

Every life and property matter and everyone has a role to play to ensure that our properties, businesses, homes are fire safe.

NFA urges the public to call on the toll-free fire emergency number 910 if they see any property on fire so that the firefighters can respond in the quickest time to save that property.

NFA is working with the Police to conduct its investigations to determine the cause of both fire incidents. 

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