The National Fire Authority (NFA) is calling on members of the public to secure their properties and possessions before they leave their homes.

 The call from NFA Chief Executive Officer Puamau Sowane comes in the wake of three residential fires registered in the first 3 days of 2025.

At 4.23am on Friday (3rd January, 2025) , the NFA Command Centre was alerted by an officer based at the Navua Fire Station about a residential fire at Naitata.

The duty crew at Navua Fire Station deployed with 1 truck and 4 officers and arrived at the scene at 4.32am to find a concrete and corrugated iron house fully engulfed in flames.

The crew established 1 delivery of 2 lengths from tank supply with support from another fire truck and a portable pump used to draft water from the nearby river. By 6.08am they managed to extinguish the flames, but the house sustained 90% structural damage.

The house was vacant at the time of the fire.

The cost of damage from the fire has been estimated at $30,000.

Meanwhile, at 11.20pm on Thursday (2nd January, 2025), the duty crew at Lautoka Fire Station was alerted by the NFA Command Centre about a fire at Lauwaki Village in Lautoka (outside fire boundary).

The crew responded immediately with 2 trucks and 5 officers and upon arrival at the scene at 11.34pm noticed a 2-bedroom corrugated iron and timber house fully engulfed in flames. 

They quickly established 1 delivery of 2 lengths from their tank supply to stop the fire from further spreading and managed to extinguish the fire.

The house belonged to a 59-year-old couple and was vacant at the time of the fire. Neighbours reported hearing a loud explosion before the fire broke out.

The house was completely destroyed with the cost of damage estimated at $40,000. 

In the third incident, the NFA Command Centre alerted the duty team at Labasa Fire Station about a property fire at 3.20am on New Year’s Day (Wednesday, 1st January, 2025) at Waiqele, Labasa.

The duty crew responded immediately and dispatched 2 trucks and 7 officers and the team arrived at the scene at 3.36am to find a house fully engulfed in flames.

The crew immediately established 1 delivery of 2 lengths from one tank supply and another delivery of 1 length to fully extinguish the fire, but the house sustained 100% damage. 

On-site investigations found that the house was unoccupied and the owner was away overseas.

Investigations are being carried out to determine the probable cause of fires. 

Mr Sowane urged members of the public to secure their homes before leaving to avoid unwanted fires.

“We are continuously finding that a majority of homes are unoccupied during fires and NFA is often contacted by neighbours or people nearby during fires,” he said.

“We are urging the public to inform a neighbour or family member when they leave their homes, even for a short while. It helps us because, in cases like these, we are contacted much quicker and our firefighters can put out the fire in time and save lives and properties.

“The New Year has just started and already 3 property fires have been registered. At the same last year, only 1 fire was reported. In January last year, there were 19 residential fires which caused $2.02 million in damage.

“We want to minimise and cut out unwanted fires and a lot of it is just members of the public doing the simple things such as storing flammable items and liquids in a safe place, keeping things such as matches out of the reach of children, switching off power points and electrical appliances, closing cooking gas cylinders and securing their homes before leaving.

“NFA’s strategic goal is to reduce fires by 5% a year. We can’t do it alone and we need the public’s help to ensure unwanted fires are reduced.”

Mr Puamau Sowane

Chief Executive Officer

National Fire Authority of Fiji

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