Nyeri families left in the cold after fire burns 30 houses

Property worth hundreds of thousands was destroyed on Monday after a fire razed more than 30 houses in Ngangarithi estate in Nyeri town.

No casualties were reported from the fire which is said to have started a few minutes past 2m from.

It is suspected that an electrical fault triggered the fire.

Locals said that the fire started from one of the houses in the second row of the residential plot.

Most of the tenants were unable to salvage their valuables as the fire was quickly fuelled by exploding cooking gas cylinders and the wooden houses.

Most of the tenants were at work at the time.

PROPERTY DESTROYED

Those present watched from a distance as their hard property went up in flames.

“I was at work when a neighbour told me that our houses were burning. When I arrived it was too late. I could see my house burning from afar and there was no way I could save anything,” Mr Timothyy Nderitu, a victim, said.

Efforts by fire fighters to put out the fire were rendered futile as the fire engine ran out of water.

The firemen were forced to go for more water as the fire continued razing the houses.

This was not the first time the rescue team has found itself working with a limited supply of water.

Locals have been urging the Nyeri County government to install fire hydrants in residential estates.

Nyeri has only two functional fire hydrants both of which are in the central business district.