Two homes were damaged yesterday in two separate fire incidents – one at Upper Brillant and the other at the Vista Do Mar Estate.

According to the owner of the house at Brillant, Philip Confiance, when he went to bed on Monday night, he made sure that nothing was switched on which could start a fire.

Mr Confiance, who lives alone in the house with his dog, said he was awakened at around midnight (Tuesday) by the strong smell of smoke in the house.

“When I woke up, the roof was on fire and my dog was trapped in the corner of a room. I tried to get to him, but my vision was limited, and the smoke made it difficult for me to breathe. I couldn’t save him. I charged out of the house and called the fire service. I tried to put out the fire, but it was too overwhelming,” said Mr Confiance.

The fire service arrived at the scene 45 minutes on account of the difficult roads and the direction it was given as to the location of the incident.

Two vehicles were deployed by the fire service as it had no idea how big the fire was.

Once on site, the fire service managed to put out the fire quickly, but most of the interior parts of the house had been destroyed.

An investigation is undergoing to ascertain the cause of the fire although the owner says he has reasons to believe that the fire might have been put deliberately.

As for the other incident, the fire service received a call at around 6.30am that a fire had started in a house at Vista Do Mar Estate.

The two persons who were in the house managed to escape once they realised that a fire had started and immediately alerted the fire service.

The fire service was fast to react to the situation as they arrived at the scene promptly.

The fire, which caused damage mostly to the interior of the house, was put out rather quickly.

“We urge everybody to try their best to prevent house fires from occurring such as not leaving electronic devices on or even forgetting to put out cigarette butts,”  said communications officer Jones Madeleine at the Seychelles Fire & Rescue Services Agency (SFRSA).

Fires are become a main threat to people’s lives and the SFRSA hopes that everyone understands that a fire can start at any time if precaution is not taken.