$1M fire at Fiji resort

Press, 4 May 1984, Page 4

$1M fire at Fiji resort

NZPA special correspondent Suva Fire has caused an estimated $1 million damage to Fiji’s Treasure Island tourist resort. The fire on Saturday evening destroyed the resort’s central building complex, containing the kitchen, power-house, dining room, lounge, and offices. Mr Dan Costello, the managing director of Resort Islands in the Sun (Fiji), Ltd, which owns the resort, said that the property was closed . until September. Reconstruction work would begin immediately. It is not known where the fire started but flames shooting from the roof came from the power-house and the kitchen area. It began about 8.30 p.m. About 100 guests and 40 staff in the building at the time escaped injury. Twenty passports, travellers cheques, and cash locked in the office safe were reduced to ashes, Mr Costello said. $20,000 worth of jewellery belonging to a guest were the only goods saved. The island, which is about 18km from Lautoka, has 90 bures (thatched houses) which were filled to capacity with 150 people. Eighty staff and 30 from the sister ' resort island, Beachcomber Island, about 800 m away, fought until midnight to control the fire, pumping water from the sea and using fire extinguishers. Mr Costello said that 70 of the guests had left but the others had decided to stay.