A caretaker and his 10-year-old son are lucky to be alive after a five bedroom farm house was destroyed in a fire yesterday morning.

They had been residing in the house for the past six years

The fire occurred between 8am and 9am at Rovadrau Road in Navua.

Neighbour Savu Kalounivalu, 26, said: “The farm house belongs to the Fijian High Commissioner to New Zealand, Filimone Waqabaca.

“The caretaker and his 10-year-old son were alone at home when the fire started, while his wife and daughter had gone to town to do back to school shopping,” he said.

“Luckily the father and the son managed to escape.

“While, we were waiting for the National Fire Authority fire truck to arrive, we tried to put out the fire, but it was too late,” he said.

Mr Kalounivalu said they could not save any of the belongings from the house.

“Mr Waqabaca bought this farm house and five acres of land in 2004 and this caretaker and his family were looking after the farm house for the last six years.

“I accommodated the caretaker and his family at my house before they left for Suva few hours after the incident,” he said.

Mr Kalounivalu said the caretaker and his family had gone to stay at Mr Waqabaca’s house in Namadi Heights in Suva.

He said they had informed the Mr Waqabaca about incident.

The National Fire Authorities are continuing their investigations into the cause of the fire.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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