3-Bedroom Home Razed, Family Left Homeless
Afamily of three from Kerebula Settlement in Nadi was left homeless after their $80,000 fully furnished three bedroom home was razed on Thursday night.
The family; Yashad Ali, 59, his wife 53-year-old Sheena Ali and 31-year-old son Shiraz Ali; had been living in their home for 35 years and were all away when the fire started.
What happened
First at the scene was 23-year-old neighbour, Abdul Zahid, who was returning from the shop around 8pm when he saw red light inside the house; when he realised that the house was on fire it was already too late.
Mr Zahid said he tried contacting the fire authority but there was no response so he drove to the station directly.
“We called the fire station a couple of times but there was no response, so I took my car and went directly to the fire station, I knew I couldn’t save their home, I had to do something to save our house as well,” he said.
“It took me five minutes to get to the fire station and back when they came the whole house was on fire, there was no way to save the house.”
Home owner, Mr Ali, a taxi driver, said they were alerted by their neighbour, but by the time they came to the scene half the house was engulfed in fire.
“I thought it was just a small fire, but when we arrived at home before nine the whole house; everything was gone.”
The National Fire Authority when contacted yesterday could not make a comment but is expected to provide a statement tomorrow.