News
Fire razes property worth millions in Gikomba fire
Gikomba Market on where the fire destroyed property worth millions of shillings on Wednesday. Photo/TOM MARUKO
Posted Wednesday, September 8 2010 at 22:30
A fire broke out at Nairobi’s Gikomba Market on Wednesday afternoon destroying property worth millions of shillings. It was not clear what started the blaze.
The fire that raged for three-hours was fought by city council firefighters but their work was hampered by inaccessibility in the overcrowded market.
Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu decried the difficulty of fighting disasters in some parts of the city.
He added that despite the speedy response by firefighters they were still faced with difficulties of accessing water.
The light industry area houses more than 200 shops that include workshops, hardware stores, furniture and clothes shops.
An estimated 50,000 people draw their source of income from the market which deals with second hand goods.
Witnesses said the fire may have been caused by an electric fault before bringing down electric poles that helped to fuel the flames.
Police had a hard time controlling the crowd that had gathered at the scene.
Last year, another fire destroyed goods worth thousands of shillings when the stores caught fire in the night.
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Submitted by KenyanSamenyaPosted September 09, 2010 08:50 AM
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Submitted by jyesak
Wow! Another fire at Gikomba! As Keke puts it, Kenyans are unable to get to the bottom of the cause. If they do, they are likely to find a whole array of fish; big and small. The big ones are the problem. The PC Nairobi has blamed accessibility for inability to manage the fire in time. May I suggest that this time round, this section of Gikomba should be well planned (May be a two floor system), by the City Council. Let this planning be done bit by bit until the whole market is covered.
Posted September 09, 2010 04:42 AM -
Submitted by keke
If this was deliberate, it is the height of evil. How inhuman to to destroy people's property that they have toiled and sweated so hard for! Especially during these hard economic times. Unfortunately, we don't expect any tangible investigations. Those who are called forensic experts in our police service are no better than me, a layman. And if the calprit is discovered to be a big fish, they pretend he can't fit in the fishing net.
Posted September 09, 2010 01:12 AM
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Accessibility is the biggest issue in Nairobi. Every road and walking path that the fire extinguishers are supposed to use is infested by hawkers, and kiosks shanties, in the name of people eking a livelihood. When the city council sort to demolish them,they were pelted with stones. I think these fires are a supper good lessons to the victims.