Family of 12 escape blaze

A family of 12 escaped an inferno that left their home charred and mangled heaps of wood and roofing iron at Kinoya Village last Sunday.

They were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Seruwaia Naivalu, 59, said she and her family were asleep when the fire started from a power point in a bedroom.

She said the house was more than 30 years old, built by her in-law when she got married in 1987.

She said the afternoon blaze which consumed their home began at 3.45pm, while the family was asleep.

“We were all sleeping, my daughter felt the heat in the house and she got up and started yelling for us to get out of the house,” she said.

“We could not save anything, we just ran out with the clothes we had on.”

The four-bedroom house was home to nine adults and three children aged six, three and one.

Ms Naivalu said she estimated the loss of belongings was to be more than $40,000.

Apart from getting the children to safety, Ms Naivalu said they had to carry her husband, Ilisoni Kalounivalu, who suffered stroke six years ago out of the house.