Property destroyed as fire burns warders houses at Nyeri’s King’ong’o prison

A section of King’ong’o GK Prison in Nyeri has been burned down in a night fire that left 36 prison warders homeless.

A total of 36 residential units were razed in the fire that is said to have started at around 1am on Monday night.

Though warders and their families were inside the houses, no one was injured.

By the time the fire truck arrived, all the houses had been destroyed.

The fire is believed to have started in one of the houses on the lower part of the block and spread fast, throwing the warders in a frenzy as they tried to contain it and save some property.

Property worth over Sh100,000 was destroyed by the fire.

The prison warders who were affected were seen sifting through the debris and smouldering embers of what used to be their uniforms and electronics trying to salvage some of their commodities.

CAUSE NOT KNOWN

Speaking to the Nation, the regional prisons commander, Hassan Bugu said that the cause of the fire was yet to be established.

“Property worth hundreds of thousands was lost. As of now the cause has not been established but investigations have been launched,” said Mr Bugu adding that the wooden construction material of the houses made the fire spread faster.

Mr Bugu said that the affected officers and their families would be provided with temporary accommodation as the prisons department worked on a plan to provide them with housing.

The prisons department is building new permanent houses next to the ones that were destroyed.

The new buildings were not affected by the fire and only the shanty-like ones were destroyed.

“We will mobilise our internal resources to house the warders for now but we are also appealing to the entire prisons department to join in getting these families back on their feet,” said Mr Bugu as he consoled the officers.

No fatalities or injuries were reported during the incident.