The National Fire Authority (NFA) attended to a major commercial fire incident that occurred at Port Denarau in Nadi last night.

The Nadi Fire Station was alerted of the fire at 12.46 am and the fire team responded immediately with three fire appliances. Upon arrival at the scene at 12.52 am, the fire team found Baobab Marine warehouse and workshop on fire. The team quickly used one delivery of water from the fire truck to extinguish the fire and stop its spread to other buildings just meters away.

Due to very low pressure from the fire hydrant, the fire team used two portable pump to draught water from open sea to fight the fire.

The fire team fought very hard against the intensive fire and heavy flammable material in the building coupled with windy conditions.  The high content of flammable materials in the building contributed to the quick spread of the fire but quick action from the fire team enabled them to stop the spread of fire to other buildings.

The burning building was very well secured with roller shutter doors which made it difficult for the fire team to enter the building. The firefighters gained entry into the building from the roof top and managed to cut open the roller doors and contain the fire from spreading to other parts of the building.

NFA Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Puamau Sowane says fire safety is crucial for all businesses and property owners and business owners are required to ensure that their properties are fire compliant.  Business owners should take stock of their fire safety capability and take advantage of fire safety compliance measures that NFA can offer to either eliminate or enable the early mitigation of fire damage to their property. 

“Building owners and business operators should ensure full compliance to the fire safety aspects outlined in the Fiji Building Code, as well as take heed of the fire safety precautions and messages by the National Fire Authority which will assist greatly in early fire mitigation or prevention of unnecessary damages due to fire,” he said.

Three fire trucks from Nadi and two from Lautoka Fire Station responded to the fire scene with 16 Firefighters and 2 Senior Officers.

NFA urges the public to call on the toll-free fire emergency number 910 as soon as possible if they see any suspicious smoke or fire so that NFA firefighters can respond in the quickest time.

NFA is carrying out its investigations into the fire incident to ascertain the cause.

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