[Photo: Supplied]

An 85- year- old woman has died in a fire at Vusuya in Nausori on Sunday morning.

The National Fire Authority says the woman was trapped inside a house.

According to NFA, their Command Centre received a 911 emergency call from officers at the Nausori Police Station, reporting a property fire at Vusuya Road.

The officers also reported that an elderly woman was trapped inside the burning house.

The duty crew at Nausori Fire Station responded immediately with 1 fire truck and 6 firefighters.

When the team reached the scene, they found a double-storey concrete house fully engulfed in flames.

The firefighters entered the house to fight the fire and search for the woman who was trapped upstairs.

However, their search effort was hampered. The house porch and steps were made of concrete, but the floors were wooden, and the walls constructed from corrugated iron.

The firefighters later found the 85-year-old who was the house owner’s mother had fallen through the floor to the ground floor.

The 63-year-retiree who owned the house, told fire officers at the scene that the family was awoken by a loud noise in the kitchen and saw the flames.

After they fled outside, they realized the 85-year-old was missing.

They tried to re-enter the house to rescue her but were thwarted by the heat and flames.

A family member, who wishes to remain anonymous, has refuted the NFA’s statement.

They claim the family tried their best to save their grandmother, but the fire spread so rapidly, with thick smoke and darkness, that they were unable to reach her room.

The 63-year-old owner sustained injuries while trying to save his mother and is admitted at the hospital.

The house sustained 80 percent structural damage with the cost of damage estimated at $200,000.

NFA Chief Executive Officer Puamau Sowane has expressed his concern regarding the fire incident.

He says this is a very sad and tragic situation, for someone elderly trapped inside this burning home and trying to escape from the heat and flames.

This is the 5th fatality so far this year.

He adds that since 2021, there have been an average of six deaths a year from fire, except for last year when there were only three deaths recorded from fires.

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