Seven people have been left homeless after a fire destroyed two houses at Lauwaki Informal Settlement in Lautoka today.

At 10.42 am, the National Fire Authority received a 910-emergency call to inform of the fire incident and the fire team responded immediately. Upon arrival at the scene, the team found a four-bedroom corrugated iron and timber house fully engulfed in flames.

The houses in the informal settlement were built close to each other and as a result, the fire had spread quickly to another house at the rear of the burning house. The firefighters quickly established one delivery of water from the fire truck to extinguish the fire with the support of another fire truck from Nadi Fire Station.

Due to bad road conditions in the settlement, the fire team found it very difficult to drive through and reach the fire scene. The fire team had to refill the water tanks from the main road approximately 300 meters away from the fire scene as there were no fire hydrants in that area.

NFA Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Puamau Sowane, says it is very unfortunate that two families have lost their four-bedroom house in the fire today.

“We all are going through a tough time now and it is very sad to see that two families have lost their homes and will have to find a place to stay. We are thankful that no one was injured in the incident and many other homes were saved”, he said.

CEO Sowane commends the efforts of the fire team from Lautoka and Nadi in controlling the fire despite the challenges of close proximity of homes, poor road conditions, and no hydrants.

“Firefighters did their best to control the fire and managed to save many other homes that could have been destroyed in the fire today. With the densely populated settlements, feeder roads, and no hydrants, NFA faces many challenges in reaching fire scenes and carrying out their operations”, he said.

CEO Sowane says people have to be vigilant as fire safety is everyone’s responsibility and the best way to prevent a fire from happening is to identify the fire hazards in and around your homes.

“I urge the public to identify the fire hazards in your homes and to get help from the team at your nearest fire station,” he said.  

“We are always here to help and we urge the public to adhere to all precautionary measures and avoid such incidents from happening,” he added.

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.

The NFA will be carrying out its investigations into the fire incidents, to ascertain the cause.

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