The highest cause of fire incidents in the last eight months was electrical related.

The highest cause of fire incidents in the last eight months was electrical related.

National Fire Authority Chief Executive Officer, Puamau Sowane says this is quite concerning and a need for Fijians to make fire safety a priority.

He says this year NFA attended to a total of 81 structural fire incidents from January to August as compared to 84 incidents last year.

Sowane says out of these incidents, 24 incidents were related to arson or suspicious causes, eight incidents were due to children playing with matches, five incidents were due to unattended cooking and one was due to lit candle.

The Western Division recorded 48 structural fire incidents compared to 38 incidents for the same period last year, the Central Division recorded 24 incidents as compared to 38 for the same period last year whilst the Northern Division decreased from 9 to 8 incidents for the same period.

NFA Chief Executive stresses several fire incidents this year occurred when homes or properties were left vacant.

He adds fire safety should be a priority considering the global financial downturn due to the global pandemic of COVID 19.

Meanwhile, there were two fire incidents on Tuesday.

A family was left homeless after their six-bedroom house was destroyed in a fire at Rarawai Totoko Road in Ba.

The family was at home when the fire started but managed to escape safely before it destroyed their house.

In another incident in Nobolo Settlement, Naqiri Road in Nausori, a family of three lost their house in a fire. The corrugated iron and timber house was completely destroyed.