The National Fire Authority (NFA) attended to a fire emergency call at Nadonumai village in Delainavesi, this afternoon that claimed the life of a six-month old baby.

A call was received by the NFA emergency line 910 at 5.23pm and the Suva Fire team responded immediately. Upon arrival at the scene, the fire crew found a four-bedroom wooden house and a three-bedroom house fully engulfed in flames. The team quickly established one delivery of water from the fire truck to extinguish the fire and stop its spread to other nearby buildings.

It is understood that the fire had started from the four- bedroom house where the baby was sleeping and spread to the whole building before it spread to the adjacent three-bedroom house.

The four-bedroom house was occupied by the 6-month-old baby’s family while the three-bedroom was occupied by 3 people.

During the operations, information was gathered that a 73-year-old man and a baby were still trapped inside the house.

Upon searching, the 73-year-old man was found down a hill as he had jumped out of a window when he realized that the fire had intensified. He was rescued by the people living nearby and transported to hospital for some minor burns.

The old man revealed that he tried to save the 6-month-old baby but the room was fully engulfed with flames. It was very unfortunate that the body of a 6-month-old baby was later found by the firefighters laying inside the room.

NFA Chief Executive Officer Mr. Puamau Sowane says the National Fire Authority is saddened by the loss of a life in the fire and greatly sympathizes with the family on their loss.

Every life and property matters and everyone has a role to play to ensure that our properties and homes are fire safe,” he said.

Mr. Sowane says, it is sad to see that in most cases; the causes of fires were purely caused by negligence that could have easily been avoided. The death of the 6 months old baby has increased the number of fire victims to 5 in the span of 9 months for 2022 compared to 6 for 12 months in 2020. The structural fire statistic is an indication of social behavior of any particular community towards fire safety. Fire accident do happen but it can be avoided if individual champion and advocate fire safety and understand the devastating impact that it can cause.

According to statistics recorded by NFA since January this year to date, a span of over nine (9) months and two weeks, a total of 92 structural fire incidents have been recorded compared to over 80 structural fire incidents same period last year. Of the 92 fire incidents recorded, 8 fire incidents alone were recorded in the first two weeks of September.

The number of residential fires has gone up recently and it is a great concern to NFA,” said Mr. Sowane.

“It is time to take ownership of your properties and the lives of your families by doing right the thing.”

I urge all Fijians to check and ensure that all fire safety measures are observed in your homes so that every Fijian is Fire-safe.  Identifying hazards that could start a fire in your home or ensuring that all precautionary measures are taken to prevent a fire from happening is the best action everyone can take,” he added.

The National Fire Authority urges all Fijians to be alert of their surroundings and immediately call the toll-free fire emergency number 910 if they see any suspicious smoke or fire before attempting to put it out, so that firefighters can respond in the quickest time possible.

NFA will conduct its investigations to determine the cause of the fire and circumstances surrounding the fire victim.

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