A family of 11 members lost their six-bedroom house in a fire at Wailevu, Labasa, in the weekend.

There were no casualties, and the occupants were alerted about the fire from neighbours at around 2:30am.

Homeowner, Tahir Hussain said the neighbours had alerted them after seeing flames at the back of the house.

Mr Hussain claimed they had no response when they called 911. He then sent his son to the fire station in Labasa, but it was closed. However, after several attempts, the officers responded.

“By the time the officers arrived we couldn’t save our belongings as the heat was too strong,” Mr Hussain said.

NFA

National Fire Authority Chief Executive Officer, Puamau Sowane says the National Fire Authority has invested so much on awareness of the Fire Emergency number 910 but people still choose to ignore these messages as evident in this incident.

“We have also received complaints that our officers were found sleeping in the wee hours of the night of the incident,” he said.

“Our officers are normal people on a 24-hour shift basis and also need to rest.”

“They don’t need to stay up whole night waiting for a fire.”

“While we understand the difficulty that the fire victims go through, we continue to urge members of the public to note the correct fire emergency number 910 and prevent unwanted fires,” he said..

Police investigations are ongoing.

Estimated cost of damage remains undetermined.

Feedback: shratikan@fijisun.com.fj