NFA confirms that Vatuwaqa Primary School fire was arson-related

The National Fire Authority has confirmed that results gathered from their investigation of the fire that occurred at the Vatuwaqa Primary School on Tuesday have indicated that the fire originated from outside the canteen area and the probable cause was arson-related.

The NFA says the findings from their investigations have been handed over to the Police for further investigations.

NFA Chief Executive Officer, Puamau Sowane says it's sad to note that the result of the fire investigations into this incident, particularly in disrupting the state of mind of our young school children who were preparing for their important exams.

Puamau says the school was a polling station for the community in that area and it also puts a new financial strain on the school management to rebuild in time for school next year.

He says December is a month known for all sorts of festivities and this is when Fijians should all be consciously aware of our surroundings to ensure that fire safety measures are taken to prevent fire from destroying our family festivities and celebrations.

Meanwhile Sowane also says that his fire teams have attended to nine property fires around the country over the last 12 days and it hurts to see families going through such great loss during this time of the year when the children will be home for the school holidays.

Sowane says the nine property fires that occurred 12 days into December should be a warning signal for all Fijians to keep our homes fire-safe and closely monitor our children so that they do not unnecessarily play with fire. He pleads to every Fijian to be vigilant with fire safety in and around their properties and be considerate to others that will be affected.

The CEO says in the event of any fire or rescue emergency, Fijians can call their toll-free 910 fire emergency number and give NFA the quickest opportunity to respond.