Series of fires devastating says NFA

January 04, 2010 03:22:28 PM

• A⁺ 
• A^-
• |
• 
• |
• 
• |
• 

Fiji’s National Fire Authority has urged businesses and home owners to act against preventing fires, warning that the spate of fires continuing into the new year is devastating for an economy the size of Fiji.

Following this morning’s fire at the Williams and Gosling warehouse in Walu Bay, NFA acting chief executive officer Jone Koroi appealed to warehouse owners to ensure their buildings are connected to the NFA’s fire alarm monitoring system.

“This will ensure that the fire brigade is automatically alerted in the event of a fire especially when no one is present in the building when the fire starts,” Koroi said.

He said damage from the fire could have been minimised if the fire brigade was alerted earlier.

“This incident was unfortunate in that the warehouse did not have any security guard that could have alerted the NFA of the fire and no other member of the public noticed the fire earlier.”

Suva firefighters had just returned to their Walu Bay headquarters from a 5.30am fire at the Great Wok of China restaurant on the other side of the city when they noticed smoke from the Williams and Gosling building.

The restaurant fire started in the kitchen and caused minimal damage after it was quickly doused.

Acting chief fire officer Qionilau Moceitai said from initial observations, the warehouse fire started some hours before the fire brigade arrived.

“The heat generated from the warehouse was so intense that firefighters were not able to enter the warehouse. The firefighters instead focused on preventing the fire from spreading to nearby properties while at the same time extinguishing the warehouse fire. The firefighters managed to save from fire damage three W&G cargo trucks, three full container loads of goods and three brand new Fiji Electricity Authority transformers located within the warehouse,” said Moceitai.

The NFA has also urged home owners to install smoke detectors.

The recent spate of major fires in the country in the new year represents the destruction of years of investments and hard work and is devastating for a small economy such as Fiji, said Koroi.

Nadi suffered two major fires at the weekend when retail giant Morris Hedstrom’s bulk store was destroyed while a family was left homeless after their three-bedroom house was gutted in a separate fire.

Seven house fires were reported in the weeks before the end of the year.

* Get the latest weather on your phone. Txt VLWH to 333 now