LAUTOKA builder Ram Lal is picking up the charred remains of his business after a fire on Monday afternoon razed a bulk store that housed about $12,000 worth of building materials.
“We do a lot of private jobs and all of our equipment was stored in the bulk store,” Mr Lal said.
“We employed five people and during construction jobs, the number goes up to 10 or 20.”
He said the warehouse was not insured.
“I spent about $25,000 on building it and it has been there for more than 30 years.”
Mr Lal said he was not at home when the incident occurred and was alerted by family members.
“I was in town and my daughter called me and when I arrived most of the building was gone.”
He said firefighters prevented the flames from spreading to his home.
“We don’t know what caused the fire and we’ll just leave it to the fire officers to investigate the cause.”
Mr Lal said while his business had been affected, he would not let the fire stop him.
“Right now, there’s nothing else to do but rebuild.”
Meanwhile, the National Fire Authority CEO John O’Connor said they had begun investigations to establish the cause of the fire.
He said so far 11 property fires had been recorded this year.
