Fire Leaves About 50 Without Workplace
Wooden building housed the Patterson Brothers Shipping Office, a juice stall, billard shop and a second-hand clothing store. ASHNA KUMAR
Approximately 50 people are without an office after a fire destroyed their building in Nausori Town yesterday.
The fire occurred about 11.30am where the Patterson Brothers Shipping Office, a juice stall, billards shop and a second-hand clothing store was engulfed in flames in main street, Nausori Town.
When the Fiji Sun team arrived, very little of the building structure was left standing while the firefighters made sure that other neighbouring buildings were safe.
The employees stood across the street with grief as they watched their workplace burn down.
Most of them could not save anything as they ran out from their respective offices to save their own lives. Two fire trucks arrived at the scene within minutes from the Nausori National Fire Authority station with approximately 11 firefighters.
The Police also arrived within minutes of the fire to control traffic. A bystander, Altaaf Khan, who was inside the Delta Timber shop across the street from the Patterson Brothers Shipping office, said he heard people scream “fire, fire; someone call NFA”. He said when he heard this and came outside and saw the whole building across the road up in flames.
Mr Khan said he alerted Police while the shopkeeper called the NFA. After calling the Police, Mr Khan said he quickly ran across to help evacuate the people from the burning building.
“I tried to help as many people as I could to save them from the fire,” he said.
“Within minutes, the NFA firefighters and Police were at the scene and helped the rest of the people out of the building.”
One employee of Patterson Brothers Shipping, who wished to remain anonymous, said as soon as she heard the word “fire” she quickly ran out of the building.
“It was all so sudden. We were selling tickets and doing other work when we heard about the fire,” she said.
“I do not know how and when the fire started but I am happy that all of us are safe.”
Police and the NFA are now investigating to determine the cause of the fire.