Seventy-six year old, Vijay Singh of Vatuwaqa, Suva is devastated after his house was completely destroyed by a fire yesterday.

Mr Singh is left with nothing except the clothes on his back. He was home with his daughter-in-law and grandson from the United States of America when a fire started in their kitchen.

A distraught Mr Singh said he could not walk and his daughter-in-law and grandson helped carry him outside as he watched all his years of hard work turn to ashes.

“I don’t know what to do. Everything is gone. I wish my leg was good, so I could have stood up and stopped the fire from spreading but there was nothing I could do,” Mr Singh said.

“It was an accident, we got two gas tanks there and both were full. My daughter-in-law opened the wrong gas tank so when she lit the fire it blew.”

“My daughter-in-law and grandson arrived in the country yesterday (Sunday). It was good that they had not unpacked their suitcases and they were able to get them outside, especially their passports.”

“All our family’s hard work has gone up in flames but I am glad that no one was injured or died.”

Grandson, Rahul Singh was emotional as he did not expect things to turn tragic after arriving in Fiji from the U.S.A.

The last time he visited his grandfather was eight-years-ago.

“I was asleep when I heard everyone yelling for me to get out of the house. I am glad that no one was injured or died during the fire. I still can’t believe that this is actually happening,” he said.

“We plan to return to the States after 30-days but this may change. I hope that there will be people that are willing to assist my grandfather in any way they can.”

The National Fire Authority (NFA) said the Suva Fire Station was alerted of the fire at 9.45 am and the fire team responded immediately.

Upon arrival at the scene, the fire team found a 3- bedroom wooden house well engulfed in flames.

The team quickly established one delivery of water from the firetruck to extinguish the fire and stop its spread to other buildings meters away from the burning building.

NFA said the owner of the house was at work while his father was at home with visitors from overseas.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the visitor was lighting the stove to boil tea when a suspected gas leak caused the fire and spread to other parts of the house.

NFA Chief Executive Officer, Puamau Sowane said they sympathised with the family for their loss. Fire safety is crucial for everyone and people need to take extra precautions in their homes.

NFA Statistics

• According to statistics recorded by NFA since January this year to August, a span of over 9 months, a total of 84 structural fire incidents have been recorded compared to 74 structural fire incidents same period last year.
• Of the 84 fire incidents recorded, 31 occurred in the Central/Eastern Division, 41 in the Western Division and 12 in the Northern Division.

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