Kelera Dikakua lost some of her most treasured possessions in a fire that destroyed her wooden five bedroom house in Muana Village in Toga, Rewa on Thursday.

But with a smile on her face, the 65 year-old widow from Nabuna, Koro, Lomaiviti said she was grateful no one was killed or injured in the fire.

Among items she lost were basic food items she sold at her home based canteen, cash, gas stoves, two sewing machines, bale of clothes her daughter would sell as second-hand clothing, her son’s homeware tools, washing machine, a refrigerator and other electrical appliances.

Ms Dikakua lost her husband last year. She lives with her son.

“When the fire happened, I was with a group of women waiting for our microfinance manager to come and collect our savings for the week to be banked,” she said.

Kelera Dikakua.

“We were all sitting in our verandah around 10.30am and no one even noticed that the fire had started.

“The only thing I understand is that the fire started from the bedroom at the back but the cause of the fire I don’t really know.

“A young man who was actually farming just near our house, came to tell me that the room right at the back of the house was up in flames.

“I panicked and as I entered the house the fire was already spreading to the living room.”

She said she tried to enter the house but the heat was too strong for her to go any further.

“I could have been sleeping or trapped in the washroom when the fire occurred but thank God it wasn’t in any of those moments.

“The house was up in flames within seconds.”

She said that firefighters had tried their best to contain the fire but all attempts were unsuccessful.

Investigations by the National Fire Authority continues and the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained.

Edited by Selita Rabuku

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