60 homes burnt in Nyeri’s Kiawara informal settlement

Author Reference

Benard., L., (2014): 60 homes burnt in Nyeri’s Kiawara informal settlement. Intel Fire Group Blog. Nairobi, Kenya.

Fire razes houses at Kiawara informal settlement in Nyeri

On Saturday 17, January 2015 the homes of more than 50 families were razed to the ground after fire razed several houses in Nyeri County’s Kiawara informal settlement. Property worth thousands of shillings was reduced to ashes in the incident that occurred at 2PM. Despite the efforts by the Nyeri County fire department, the fire spread quickly to the closely built timber structures, intensified by a wind weather making rescue efforts difficult and forcing the residents to watch helplessly as the fire moved from one house to another.

This according to relevant sources was the second time this informal settlement was having a fire incident. In April 2014, fire razed houses at the settlement leaving 20 families homeless and the response story was quite the same with the residents being furious at the slow response.

Frustrations

It was evident from the fire department that the response team could not make it to the scene in time due to impassable roads in the informal settlement. But after getting to the scene the fire engine ran out of water after 30 minutes as the fire continued to intensify. In essence this brought danger to the fire response team as the wrath and fury of the residence was directed to them. The Nyeri County government was even accused for the second time as having neglected the disaster preparedness measures.

This story is replicated in most counties in Kenya where fire service delivery seems to have taken a back stage and the focus is on other areas such as roads and hospitals. The county governments of late have been parading ambulances meant for medical responses and county police cars for security response but none of the counties has unveiled a new fire engine. The last attempt was Nairobi County government that unveiled mobile water boozers that are yet to make any impact leave alone the area of operations. The then Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan made huge impact through provision of fire engines to Nairobi Metropolis which included the surrounding towns. This program should be studied by the Nyeri county government and the other governments with a view of making sure the sub-counties are empowered in terms of disaster response resources, expertise and capacities.

The Author is a student of PhD Projects Management at JKUAT Juja Main Campus.