Many families left homeless in Mukuru Kwa Njenga night fire

About 300 households wee affected. PHOTO | SAMMY KIMATU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

More than 1,000 people spent Friday night in the cold after an inferno razed down about 300 houses, in Nairobi’s Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum.

Property of unknown value was reduced to ashes.

Learning at schools in the slum are expected to be disrupted next week as the fire gutted down classes, offices and a hall at two school Siloam Education Centre and Halima Academy.

The headteacher of Siloam Education Centre, Janet Mandika said the school which has 620 pupils has lost its eight classes.

“I am worried at the fate of my 68 candidates who will sit their KCPE next week. The school is a registered centre for the exam,” Mrs Mandika said.

A place of worship called House of Prayer Church was also burnt down.

Trouble started at one of the houses where a woman was alone cooking and a fire and smoke emitted from the house. She is believed to have been using an electric device which was faulty.

She allegedly fought the fire alone in her house without screaming or calling for help before it spread to other houses.

Dominic Njuguna, a resident, said the fire started in one of the house as a woman was cooking using a faulty electric device.

“She struggled to put out the fire in her house alone without calling for help only for inferno to overcome her and spread quickly to other houses,” Mr Njuguna said.

A power transformer also caught fire causing an outage in the area.

Allan Temba, 30, whose house was razed down said only managed to salvage a few items.

Irate youths hurled stones at the firefighters the city county accusing them of responding late.