10 January, 2026, 9:08 pm Central - 24°C Rain

Occupants of commercial building are safe after devastating fire this morning in Lautoka

Occupants of commercial building are safe after devastating fire this morning in Lautoka

By Mikaele Liga
22/10/2025

Occupants from a commercial building with residential flats in Natabua are safe as firefighters from the Lautoka Fire Station responded to the devastating fire that engulfed their building.

National Fire Authority Chief Executive Officer Puamau Sowane says the Lautoka Fire Station received the emergency call at 8.29am via the National Command Centre reporting a fire at a mixed-use structure in Natabua, and the Divisional Fire Officer and Station Officer in Lautoka immediately attended the incident.

Sowane adds the brigade responded with two fire appliances carrying seven officers each, along with an ambulance with three officers and upon arrival at 8.35am, crews found a single structure with corrugated iron roofing and concrete walls containing two residential flats and a grocery shop fully engulfed in flames.

He says the firefighters immediately established water delivery lines, including one 64mm hose from the first appliance and one 64mm hose with two 38mm extensions from the second appliance, additional support was provided by another appliance from Lautoka Fire Station.

The CEO says the brigade successfully extinguished the fire while refilling from a hydrant approximately four hundred metres away and the firefighters returned to the station by 12.25pm after confirming the fire was fully extinguished.

The building owned by Shiu Prasad & Sons, consisted of residential flats with a grocery shop on the premises.

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