Fire breaks out in copra shed

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Men work round the clock to clear burning sacks of coconut meal from the Island Industries bulk store at Walu Bay in Suva while firemen fight the fire in the background. Picture: FILE

On Tuesday, June 23, 1963, firemen had to toil in clouds of smoke fighting a smouldering fire in the Island Industries Ltd copra meal shed at Walu Bay in Suva.

The firemen, alongside Island Industries Ltd workers and more than 140 temporary labourers, worked hard to put the fire out.

The Fiji Times was at the scene to cover the incident and later published an article on Wednesday, June 24.

That day, a cloud of smoke hung over the area, penetrating, at times, other parts of the city.

According to the report, the acrid smell of burning meal was carried far and wide by the breeze.

Around the meal shed, visibility at times was reduced to almost nil. The fire was the worst of several which had started in the copra meal shed.

An insurance company officer said the fire may have started from a wet sack of meal – wet meal was highly combustible.

In the shed were about 28,500 bags (about 1300 tonnes) of meal, of which about 400 tonnes would have been saved that day.

The loss was estimated to be as high as 25,000 pounds.

This newspaper reported the Southern Pacific Insurance Company had insured the copra meal, most of which was for export.

The fire had been smouldering for a day or more before telltale smoke early on Tuesday morning indicated something was wrong.

Smoke coming out of air vents on top of the building was noticed by Constable Ami Chand, who was on patrol on the Queens Rd near the District Engineer’s yard.

He raised the alarm and soon firemen from all parts of Suva were hurrying to the scene.

As it was impossible to broadcast an appeal for labour help at that time of the day, an executive of W R Carpenter and Co (Fiji) Ltd, owners of Island Industries Ltd, telephoned the police training depot at Nasova for help.

The police response was immediate and about 60 police cadets arrived at Walu Bay soon after.

The cadets helped to remove smouldering bags of meal from the shed until Island Industries Ltd workers arrived and temporary labour was hired.

Unable to find the seat of the fire, firefighters could only douse the smouldering bags whenever flames appeared and remove them from the shed.

At the same time, it was necessary to remove copra meal that was not threatened from the shed.

Island Industries Ltd soon had their own fleet of lorries at work and hired tip-lorries and scoops to remove the meal from the shed.

Meal damaged by fire or water was taken to the Lami dump and undamaged meal was removed to temporary storage hastily arranged by Island Industries.

The strategy of the fire brigade was to wet the smouldering meal whenever it looked like it would burst into flames then wait until firemen or labourers were able to move it from the shed.

Smoke-grimed and saturated men kept applying these tactics through weary hours and snatched a brief rest whenever they could.

The Red Cross was in action too, supplying coffee and other refreshments and cigarettes to the firemen and labourers whenever they could stop to consume them.

Later they supplied the firemen with clean socks.

The Fiji Tobacco Co and Carreras Ltd sent cigarettes across to the firefighters and labourers and the Rewa Dairy Company sent milk.

Representatives of the Southern Pacific Insurance Company were early at the scene to make preliminary assessments.

Chief fire officer W H Le Vesconte said in the early stages, firemen were hampered because the copra meal was packed so tightly.

Island Industries had fresh labour available in the afternoon to take over from the men who had been working from early hours.

A canteen service was arranged to supply meals to firemen and labourers during the day.

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