Ritika Pratap 
The Hot Bread Kitchen has assured its customers in the Lami-Nausori area that they will be able to eat their pies and sausage rolls over the weekend.
In a statement, HBK says the fire broke out in midafternoon at the North East Corner of the Wallson Building in Valelevu.
It says while the firefighters fought valiantly to control the blaze, it spread to the HBK’s pastry facility on the South-West corner of the structure.
Hot Bread staff spent the following hours moving most of their equipment to the roadside and evacuating to safety.
The Hot Bread Kitchen had occupied the building since the early 1990s.
Managing Director Vanessa Charters says their valuable staff are safe and have united with their loved ones.
Charters assures the staff that their pay will not be affected by this disruption.
She says production will be relocated as swiftly as possible and they look forward to providing pies and sausage rolls for customers on the weekend.
Charters says this could have been much worse, but the staff from Valelevu and those at their facility in Lyndhurst went to assist before the authorities cleared the area.
She says they also hold compassion for their landlord, Ramwallson, who homed them for more than thirty years.
The NFA and police are investigating the matter to determine the cause of the fire.
Apart from the Hot Bread facility, Wallson Foods Ltd’s warehouse, nearby shops, a private school, a restaurant, a canteen, and a movie shop were destroyed by fire.
