At least 50 families in Silanga area in Kibera will spend the night in the cold after their houses were destroyed by fire early Wednesday.
According to the residents at the scene, the fire broke out in one of the houses at around 4am before spreading rapidly to the other houses.
Daniel Nzomo, the owner of the affected houses, said he is yet to come to terms with the incident.
“The fire started at dawn from one of the houses whose occupants are yet to be seen since then. My tenants have been heavily affected by this. Being the owner of all the houses, I have lost a lot as well, but I thank God that no one was injured during the incident,” he said.
“Two mini supermarkets are among the properties that were destroued. One of them was mine,” he added.
Nzomo said the residents and Nairobi City County fire brigades finally managed to quell the fire after close to three hours of persistent efforts.
“The residents struggled to put out the fire but it was persistent until the fire brigades arrived 30 minutes later. They managed to suppress it after around one hour.”
One of the residents stated that the same area was gutted by fire three months ago when more than 20 houses were destroyed.
“This is the second time that fire has burnt these houses. In June, the same place witnessed a similar incident with more than 20 structures being reduced to ashes.”
The victims are now calling upon well-wishers to come to their rescue as they contemplate on how to get new shelters.
“We urge the good Samaritans to help us with clothes, food because we have lost everything,” said Priscilla Auma.