Heroine Granny Saves Granddaughters, Husband From Fire

An elderly woman braved all odds to save her husband and two granddaughters from a fire at Benau, Labasa on Wednesday night.

Dhan Raji, 63, said it was around 1 am while in bed, that she heard an explosion behind the two-bedroom house.

“Suddenly I saw fire coming from the back door and smoke inside the room where my two granddaughters, Swastika Reddy, 16 and Jesleen

Prasad, 7 were sleeping,” Mrs Raji said.

“I quickly woke them up and took them out of the house.

“Then I took my husband, 63, who is a stroke patient out of the house.”

The mother of five said afterwards she quickly threw buckets of water at the back of the house to stop the spread of fire.

“It took me about 30 minutes to completely put off the fire,” the grandmother of eight said.

“I saw one pipe, inside was cloth dipped with benzine and a small bottle of benzine. Then I saw the window of the room where my granddaughters were sleeping opened.

“My eldest granddaughter said she saw a man-like figure run from the back of the house while she was standing outside.”

She said Police were told and they immediately attended to her complaint.

“I thank God for giving me the strength to save my loved ones,” she said.

“About $4500 cost of damage has been incurred. This is the most difficult time for us because my son, a fisherman, is the breadwinner and business is really down now.

“I don’t know how we can rebuild things now.”

Meanwhile, Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed that Police attended to the report.

She said the National Fire Authority would determine the cause of fire before they could classify it as arson.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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