Fire leaves families homeless

Property worth millions was destroyed and several families rendered homeless by a fire on Monday night.

Yesterday, tenants of Kipkona in Igembe Central, including business owners, were counting their losses.

Over 20 houses were burnt by the inferno which Athiru Rujiine MCA Japhet Kirimi said was caused by an electric fault.

“A bulb burst in one of the houses which at the time had only a child inside as the mother was out. Luckily the child ran out. The fire quickly spread to other houses,” said Mr Kirimi, adding that by the time the fire engine arrived from Maua the fire had consumed most of the houses.

Mr Kirimi said property estimated at about Sh10 million went up in smoke.

“We have been agitating for the county government to always have a fire engine at Maua Station because of the many fires that have been witnessed in the Igembe region,” said Kirimi.

William Mwiti was yesterday in tears after 23 rooms he had rented out, and his own house, were razed.

“Everybody is in tears because we lost everything. When the fire broke out people thought they could contain it and did not try to save belongings immediately. But the fire intensified and there was no time to salvage anything,” he said.

Abothoguchi Central MCA Ayub Bundi asked the government to repair fire engines that are in garages.