Hundreds left homeless after an early morning fire razed houses in Gatina area of Kawangware

Properties worthy millions of shillings went up in flames after a fire inferno gutted down houses in Gatina ward of Dagoretti North.

According to an eye witness, the source of fire could not be independently established but it is believed that it was caused by a gas cooker.

“A tenant was making breakfast when a cooking gas exploded causing a large ball of fire that spread to the nearby houses” a tenant said.

Frantic efforts to contain the fire proved futile as NMS took too long to dispatch the fire engines.

According to area MCA Hon David Ayoi, had the fire engines arrived in time, the damage could have been kept to minimum.

“I was on my way to the assembly when I received a distress call from one of my staff members that there was a fire outbreak in my area. I quickly raised an SOS for help to the county disaster response team who tried their best to swing into action. Unfortunately the fire engines were coming from the other end of town thus slowing our rescue operations” said Hon Ayoi.

By the time the fire brigade crew arrived 45 or so minutes later, the fire had gutted a considerable number of houses most of which were semi permanent mabati structures.

The county government should relook at how the disaster management response team is stationed.

“This is not the first time that the fire brigade is arriving late, we need to atleast station our fire engines close enough to slum areas which are vulnerable to frequent fire outbreaks. In this case, I will be moving a motion proposing the same at the county assembly. We have about 23 fire engines which if distributed around the 17 subcounties it would be effective in quelling fire outbreaks” added Hon Ayoi.

Appeal for help as over 200 families remain homeless.

The Gatina ward MCA is appealing for help of any kind as most of his people spend the night in the cold.

“I want to categorically appeal for help from both the government agencies and well wishers so that we can help the hundreds who have been rendered homeless as a result of the inferno. Most of the affected are young children, school going kids and senior members of the community who are in dire need of shelter,food and books for school going kids” said Ayoi