The National Fire Authority (NFA) is calling on business owners to liaise more often with the authority to ensure any existing non-compliance issues are addressed to minimise chances of fire damage.
The call comes following a fire at DeVos on the Park along Stinson Parade in the Suva Central Business District on Wednesday night.
In a statement, NFA chief executive officer Puamau Sowane said the preliminary investigation report indicated the fire was most probably caused by unattended cooking in a restaurant on the building’s ground floor.
The NFA command centre confirmed receiving a call at 8.35pm yesterday about a property fire at Devos on the Park.
“The duty crew at Suva fire station responded immediately with two trucks and arrived at the scene to find a storage room in the building’s sixth floor on fire,” NFA said.
“The quick response by the crew using one delivery of four lengths from one appliance with the support from their tank supply managed to extinguish the fire at its early stage.
“This resulted in the occupants of the hotel being safely evacuated, thus saving the building from any major fire damage.”
Mr Sowane said the authority was stepping up its compliance checks with businesses as empowered under legislation to minimise commercial and industrial fires.
He urged the business community to engage fire agents to install approved standard Fire Alarm systems, and have it connected to NFA’s Alarm Signalling Equipment, the (ASE) system because that will immediately alert NFA in the event of a fire.
Mr Sowane praised the firefighters for their quick action in evacuating the building occupants and putting the fire out and urged members of the public to call 910 to report a fire incident.
