55 structural fire incidents from January to May – NFA CEO

The National Fire Authority has revealed that structural fires caused $3.7 million worth of damage around the country and left one person dead in the first five months of this year.

NFA Chief Executive Officer Puamau Sowane highlighted that in a span of five months from January to the end of May this year, a total of 55 structural fire incidents were recorded which is a 14 percent increase when compared to 47 structural fires for the same period last year.

Sowane says of the total number of structural fire incidents for the first five months this year, 52 were residential with two industrial and one commercial fire.

The CEO adds further analysis into the statistics for the five-month period revealed that the main causes of fires have been electrical-related 33 percent, arson 18 percent and indiscriminate use of matches and careless disposal of lit cigarettes 11 percent.

He says these were closely followed by unattended cooking 9 percent.

Sowane further says the cumulative total cost of damage due to property fires over the past five years is $102.3 million and once the damage caused during residential structural fires in the first five months of this year is added, this brings the total damage to date to $106 million.

He adds over the past 5 years (2018-2022) a total of 21 people lost their lives in fires.

The CEO warns members of the public against being complacent when it comes to fire safety, adding that while electrical issues were the main cause of home fires there was concern that unattended cooking and indiscriminate use of matches and carelessly disposed lit cigarettes were among the top causes of blazes.

He says an analysis of emergency responses over the past five years (2018-2022) revealed that a total of 706 properties were lost to fire during the five-year period.

Sowane adds the average number of property fires per annum is 141, which means that an average of 141 homes have been destroyed by fire on an annual basis over the past five years

He further says there was a 9 percent spike in the number of structural fires in 2022 at 144 compared with 132 structural fires in 2021 and there was a 28 per cent increase in the number of small property fires that occurred in 2022 at 179 compared to 140 in 2021.

The CEO adds small property fires involving EFL meter box fires at homes, electrical short circuits and outside kitchen fires that the brigade has been able to put out quickly mainly because the NFA was called in early and fire crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire.

He says the NFA is urging all Fijians to check and ensure that all fire safety measures are observed in homes, so that every property and home is fire-safe at all times.

Sowane adds practice fire safety every day and teach the same to your children as well as it is a habit that we should all practice daily.

In the event of a fire incident, please quickly call 910 and give our firefighters the quickest opportunity to attend to a fire incident.