Principal links school fire on students’ fear of exams

Staff and neighbours of Embu High School in Embu West Sub-County try to put out a fire in one of the classrooms on the nigh of July 17, 2016. The fire razed a dormitory, a staffroom and two classrooms. PHOTO | CHARLES WANYORO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Embu West DCIO Joshua Cheptoo said police suspected arson and had arrested five students, who were being interrogated to establish the cause of the fire.
  • One of the rescuers, Titus Muriithi, said he heard an explosion and together with other villagers used buckets of water and sand to put it off since the Embu County fire engines didn’t work.
  • Embu businessman Johnstone Nyaga, a national chamber of commerce director, expressed disappointment at the manner in which the firefighters handled the incident.

Property worth millions of shillings went up in smoke after a fire gutted a dormitory, staffroom and two classrooms at Embu High School in a suspected arson attack on Sunday night.

The fire started at around 7pm, spread quickly and destroyed property at the private school.

Embu County firefighters battled the blaze and extinguished by midnight.

School Principal Linet Manyengo said the fire started shortly after the students went for their evening studies.

“I heard a loud explosion from the tuition area and suddenly the lights went off,” she said.

She said students had complained about the forthcoming mock examinations and others didn’t want to sit end-of-term exams.

Following the incident, students fled the school, leaving villagers and workers to battle the fire.

Embu West DCIO Joshua Cheptoo said police suspected arson and had arrested five students, who were being interrogated to establish the cause of the fire.

One of the rescuers, Titus Muriithi, said he heard an explosion and together with other villagers used buckets of water and sand to put it off since the Embu County fire engines didn’t work.

He said one of the engines didn’t have enough water while the other didn’t have pressure to extinguish the fire on the first floor.

“I am a neighbour and when I heard the explosion, I rushed here and found the students had fled,” he said.

Embu businessman Johnstone Nyaga, a national chamber of commerce director, expressed disappointment at the manner in which the firefighters handled the incident.

He said the fire was still raging three hours after it started as the firefighters watched, struggling to figure out how to apply proper pressure to fight the fire.

“As business [people], we pay money for fire preparedness and they should always be ready,” he said.