A 2 year old girl has died after fire destroyed their 3-bedroom timber and corrugated iron house at Vunikoka Settlement in Seaqaqa, and the National Fire Authority says information gathered confirms that only two children were inside the house – the 2 year old girl and her 3 year old sister.
NFA says the 3 year old escaped to the neighbour’s house, while the 2 year old was trapped inside the burning house.
The Authority says the parents had gone to the hospital, leaving the children alone in the house.
The neighbours tried to call for assistance, but they could not get through since there was no electricity and no phone network available during the day.
The house sustained 90 percent damage.
Investigations have started to determine the probable cause of the fire however NFA suspects that the 3 year old was playing with matches.
NFA Chief Executive Officer, Puamau Sowane stresses the need for children, especially those who have not reached school age, to be constantly supervised.
He says this is a tragic event, and it saddens NFA that a young life has been lost in a fire.
Sowane says this is something that no family should have to go through. He adds that it is their plea that families practice fire safety at home and also have an escape plan and route and teach children what to do in the event of a fire.
The NFA CEO says the care of our children is a duty that all parents should take seriously, and their sincere condolences go out to the family.
Sowane also thanked Fiji Pine Limited for providing support to their firefighters to help extinguish the fire.
He says this act exemplifies that we, as a community, need to work together to avoid disasters and emergencies.
He says at 1.14pm yesterday, the Seaqaqa Fire Station’s Green Watch Officer in Charge, SO Avinesh Chand, received a call informing him of the house fire at Vunikoka, Seaqaqa, inside the fire boundary.
NFA says the duty crew responded immediately with a fire truck and upon arrival at 1.22pm, found the 3-bedroom timber and corrugated iron house fully engulfed in flames.
The crew established 1 delivery of 2 lengths from the tank supply to extinguish the fire, and at 1.52pm, a Fiji Pine truck with two 5000-litre water tanks arrived to provide support with a delivery of one length.
Upon further investigation, it was found that the 2 year old girl, who was last seen inside the house, was missing, and the firefighters later located the charred remains of the 2-year-old inside the house.
The NFA says at 2.49pm, their investigation team with the Police forensic team, retrieved the body from the scene.
Police are also conducting investigations into the incident.
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