The great escape

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

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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.