The great escape

Smoke flares up at the Nakumatt Downtown. Photo/JOSEPH KANYI

Hundreds of people were lucky to get away with their lives when a busy supermarket in downtown Nairobi caught fire on Wednesday afternoon.

The fire started on the ground floor of Nakumatt Downtown, popular with throngs of shoppers at 2.45pm and eventually engulfed the whole of Woolworths House where the store is located.

Flames lept into the sky and a cloud of toxic smoke engulfed the city as explosions, suspected to be of gas cylinders, rent the air.

The Sarova Stanley, the Nairobi Stock Exchange and the Nation Media Group were among nearby institutions whose staff were evacuated and escorted to safety. By the time of going to press, it had been confirmed that six people had been injured and property likely worth hundreds of millions of shillings destroyed.

By 9pm on Wednesday evening, firefighters were still hard at work putting out the smouldering fire and scores of ambulances were on standby.

Nakumatt issued a statement saying all its shoppers and staff were safe, but there were fears that there could have been undiscovered casualties because rescuers had not finished searching the building.

After a head count, there were initial reports that four Nakumatt workers could not be accounted for. Mr Jeremiah Omuyo, an employee who escaped through the ceiling and jumped off the first floor said he left about 20 shoppers behind. “Behind me were many women screaming,” he said from his bed at Kenyatta National Hospital.

The Nairobi City Council, clearly ill-equipped and ill-trained, responded with spectacular ineffectiveness and it took the intervention of fire units from other institutions to bring the fire under control.

The public responded by assisting the overwhelmed firefighters and neighbouring businesses such as the Nation offered their hydrants and fire hoses to the firefighters, who frequently ran out of water.

G4S security firm, the military and the Kenya Airports Authority all sent their best men and fire engines to help. Even the police water canons, normally used to disperse demonstrators, were brought to bear on the fierce fire.

Riot unit cheered

The riot unit, comprising of two trucks, was cheered by thousands of onlookers when it rumbled up to help the firefighters. It was cheered again when it went for a refill and rejoined the fight.

The fire, said to have started in the generator room, spread to the neighbouring Alibhai Shariff building, as acrid clouds of smoke embraced the city.

Earlier, Kimathi Street experienced a power blackout after a transformer exploded in the morning and Kenya Power and Lighting technicians were called to restore supply. At the time of the fire, most buildings on the street were running emergency generators.

Police Commissioner Hussein Ali supervised the rescue which included a police helicopter hovering in the skies. At its worst, the flames and smoke could be seen by people tens of kilometres away.

Late into the night, relatives were calling the Nation Centre complaining that they were unable to trace relatives who had been around the supermarket. Top government officials visited the scene, including Internal security minister George Saitoti and Nairobi Provincial Commissioner James Waweru.

Prof Saitoti said the government response to disasters was not satisfactory and a lot of improvement was needed. “This is not the time to blame anybody but to thank all the stakeholders in the fire fighting industry such as the Army, Air Force, Police, City Council, private security agencies and the public, for responding to this situation,” said the minister.

And Maj Gen Ali said the priority was to put out the fire and evacuate casualties. “Then we will join other experts to investigate its cause. If any foul play is suspected, we shall arrest perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly,” he said.

Six people treated

Nairobi Metropolitan minister Mutula Kilonzo, his Local Government counterpart Musalia Mudavadi, Special Programmes Permanent Secretary Abdi Ali, and his Local Government counterpart Sammy Kirui, and Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa were also at the scene.

Six people were treated at the Kenyatta National Hospital, according to the hospital’s chief executive, Dr Jotham Micheni, said. Two of them had serious injuries. One broke his leg after jumping from the first floor of the burning supermarket and the other one was knocked down by a panicked motorist fleeing the fire.

Dr Micheni said the rest of the people were treated for shock and panic while others appeared to have inhaled smoke. “The two who were seriously injured have been admitted while the rest are under observation,” the official said.

While trading on the floor of the Nairobi Stock Exchange was not interrupted, other services such as the release of market statistics were delayed. NSE headquarters and ceremonial trading floor is housed at the first floor of the Nation Centre.

Trading session

“Please note that due to unavoidable circumstances, today’s pricelist and the market report will be delayed,” read a press release from the NSE trading department that attempted to reassure the market. “We expect to dispatch it before commencement of the next trading session today.”

It was second time that Atul Shah family, which owns the Nakumatt chain of supermarkets, has been faced by bad luck in the last four months.

Last October, one of the supermarket’s branches was demolished to pave way for the expansion of Thika Road. Police said that they could not confirm if anyone had died in the fire. Mr Eric Kirathe, the police spokesman, said a head count was being conducted to establish if anyone was missing.

However, it would be difficult to know how many customers were in the supermarket when the fire broke out and how many escaped. The Woolworths House, at the junction of Kimathi street and Kenyatta avenue was burnt to a shell.

Firefighters arrived at the scene in less than 15 minutes but were unable to bring the fire under control for more than three hours. As the firemen fought the flames, exploding gas cylinders fed the inferno. On several occasions the fire fighters had to rush to refill their engines.