‘Fire the most intense I’ve ever fought’

Acting Chief Fire Officer at Nairobi Fire Service Brian Kisali speaks to the Nation at his office on August 8 2013 ANTHONY OMUYA (NAIROBI)

What you need to know:

  • The fire escalated fast giving them a headache as they struggled to put it under control. Its cause is yet to be known.

“The fire was so huge and intense. It was the second most intense I have fought in the city in my 26 years of service,” said Nairobi County’s chief fire officer Brian Kisali.

He spoke in the wake of the destructive fire that gutted the arrivals section of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Wednesday morning leading to its closure.

Fire fighters took more than five hours to extinguish the inferno that started around 5am. That period of time has been questioned with many Kenyans wondering whether equipped and trained fighters should have taken such a long time to contain the fire.

Mr Kisali (right), the city’s acting top fire officer, said they were not overwhelmed but were forced to change tactics after they realised the intensity and ferocity of the blaze.

“The challenge was that the whole place was ablaze forcing us to change our tactics. We had to reposition ourselves so that we could deal perfectly with the raging fire,” the Japan-trained officer said.

An experienced group of fire fighters from the city’s department were sent to the JKIA following an alert at around 5.40am. They arrived at the airport before 6pm.

“Once the whole building is on fire, that’s a challenge as you have to fight it from several angles. We managed, with the strong fire crew, to extinguish it despite that length of time.”

He led a contingent of 20 fire fighters who operated five engines from the city fire department. They rushed to the airport upon getting the distress call and immediately began the battle.

The fire escalated fast giving them a headache as they struggled to put it under control. Its cause is yet to be known.

“We had a lot of water and our engines were perfectly in shape,” the officer added.

Mr Kisali said the fire was the second most intense, after Nakumatt Downtown’s in 2009, that he has handled since his recruitment in 1987.

Other fire-fighters that supported the Airport’s fire department were from Nairobi Fire Brigade, National Youth Service and the Kenya Defence Forces.