Colonial resumes all services
Colonial Fiji advises that all services that were affected by the fire in our Parade Arcade building on Tuesday morning have been restored.
The last of the affected services; the ATM and EFTPOS network are now fully operational.
Colonial’s Managing Director, Mr Mellsop said “I must thank all our customers and the public for being patient throughout this experience. I would like to reassure the public that Colonial has been in Fiji for over 135 years and we take great delight in continuing to serve the people of Fiji, now and in the future.
For our customers we made exceptional arrangements over the two days to have our branches opened on extended hours to provide cash withdrawals whilst our ATM and EFTPOS network was being restored.
Mr Mellsop said “I am thankful that there were no injuries or casualties from this incident to either our staff or the professionals that assisted. The staff executed our emergency and evacuation plans as they were trained and did not take unnecessary risks.”
He further added “my team have worked tirelessly hard and over long hours to progressively restore our services. I would like to commend my team for their diligence and focus in getting our services for our customers back to working order.”
There would be around 150 Colonial staff working in the building on a normal business day. All staff affected by this unfortunate incident have been relocated to other Colonial offices around Suva city. Colonial is continuing to reassess staff locations to ensure that all staff are accommodated in a suitable environment to be able to continue delivering a high standard of service to its customers.
“Despite all that has happened I am proud of the determination and resilience of our people who continued to provide services to our customers and still keep their morale”, Mr Mellsop said.
The Parade Arcade building has six levels, five of which are occupied by various Colonial departments with the ground level occupied by retail tenants.
There were two staff on Level 5 of the building where the fire started. They tried to stem the fire as they were trained to do but when that was not successful, they evacuated the building as per Colonial’s evacuation procedures, which are practiced regularly.
The fire was contained by the National Fire Authority to Level 5 of the building. It did not spread to other floors or adjacent buildings due to the prompt and professional actions of the National Fire Authority. Chief Fire Officer, Mark Reid also commended Colonial on the protections designed in the building, namely the fire alarms and the structures that slowed the spread of the fire to other floors.
The National Fire Authority’s actions were supplemented by the swift and professional action of the Fiji Police Force in securing the fire scene and keeping the public away to allow the firemen to carry out their work unhindered.
The damaged floor has been checked for structural safety by a structural engineering consultant. The clearance was given this morning for the National Fire Authority and Fiji Police Force to enter and investigate the fire.
Colonial hopes that the investigations will not take more than a day and that the building will be handed back by the end of today. Mr Mellsop added “when we get the building back we will assess, repair and reoccupy. We are not in a position at the present time to make an assessment on the extent of damage to enable us determine the extent of repairs or costs.”
The last of the affected services; the ATM and EFTPOS network are now fully operational.
Colonial’s Managing Director, Mr Mellsop said “I must thank all our customers and the public for being patient throughout this experience. I would like to reassure the public that Colonial has been in Fiji for over 135 years and we take great delight in continuing to serve the people of Fiji, now and in the future.
For our customers we made exceptional arrangements over the two days to have our branches opened on extended hours to provide cash withdrawals whilst our ATM and EFTPOS network was being restored.
Mr Mellsop said “I am thankful that there were no injuries or casualties from this incident to either our staff or the professionals that assisted. The staff executed our emergency and evacuation plans as they were trained and did not take unnecessary risks.”
He further added “my team have worked tirelessly hard and over long hours to progressively restore our services. I would like to commend my team for their diligence and focus in getting our services for our customers back to working order.”
There would be around 150 Colonial staff working in the building on a normal business day. All staff affected by this unfortunate incident have been relocated to other Colonial offices around Suva city. Colonial is continuing to reassess staff locations to ensure that all staff are accommodated in a suitable environment to be able to continue delivering a high standard of service to its customers.
“Despite all that has happened I am proud of the determination and resilience of our people who continued to provide services to our customers and still keep their morale”, Mr Mellsop said.
The Parade Arcade building has six levels, five of which are occupied by various Colonial departments with the ground level occupied by retail tenants.
There were two staff on Level 5 of the building where the fire started. They tried to stem the fire as they were trained to do but when that was not successful, they evacuated the building as per Colonial’s evacuation procedures, which are practiced regularly.
The fire was contained by the National Fire Authority to Level 5 of the building. It did not spread to other floors or adjacent buildings due to the prompt and professional actions of the National Fire Authority. Chief Fire Officer, Mark Reid also commended Colonial on the protections designed in the building, namely the fire alarms and the structures that slowed the spread of the fire to other floors.
The National Fire Authority’s actions were supplemented by the swift and professional action of the Fiji Police Force in securing the fire scene and keeping the public away to allow the firemen to carry out their work unhindered.
The damaged floor has been checked for structural safety by a structural engineering consultant. The clearance was given this morning for the National Fire Authority and Fiji Police Force to enter and investigate the fire.
Colonial hopes that the investigations will not take more than a day and that the building will be handed back by the end of today. Mr Mellsop added “when we get the building back we will assess, repair and reoccupy. We are not in a position at the present time to make an assessment on the extent of damage to enable us determine the extent of repairs or costs.”
