A fire broke out at Ngara Market in Nairobi on Sunday, December 1, sending thick smoke billowing into the sky and alarming traders and residents.
The blaze, which occurred around 9:30 p.m., is feared to have destroyed millions of shillings worth of property in the market, home to hundreds of small-scale traders selling a wide variety of goods.
Videos from the scene, obtained by media, show a chaotic situation as the fire raged, prompting a swift response from the Nairobi City County fire team.
Firefighters arrived promptly and worked tirelessly to contain the flames.
At this time, authorities have not yet determined the cause of the fire, and there have been no confirmed reports of injuries or casualties.
This latest fire adds to a growing list of recent fire incidents in Nairobi. Just two weeks ago, a devastating blaze in the Majengo area of Kamukunji killed at least six people and injured 16 others.
That fire, which broke out around 8:30 p.m., destroyed at least 50 houses, forcing many residents to spend the night in the cold.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja had recently visited a fire-affected area on Desai Road in Ngara on September 2, where several traders lost their livelihoods.
Following that incident, he pledged to improve the city’s fire emergency response capabilities.
September also saw multiple fire outbreaks, including one in Kawangware’s Muslim area on the 19th and another in Mukuru Kwa Njenga on the 16th.
In response to the increasing frequency of such incidents, the Nairobi Red Cross has been intensifying fire-fighting training across the county to better equip communities with emergency response skills.
The rise in fire outbreaks has prompted calls for enhanced fire prevention measures and more robust, better-equipped response teams to mitigate the impact on Nairobi’s densely populated areas.
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