Nakuru county firefighting department has come under stinging attacks from local residents who have accused them of laxity.
Speaking on the sidelines of a fire incident at the Nakuru Prime mattresses company, residents on Wednesday complained that the department was rushing too late to put out fires in the county.
"This fire began at around 11:20 am and the first fire engine to arrive here was that of Comply company which is several miles away.Our county engines took almost 30 minutes to be here," Nelson Koech said.
Another resident Jasper Okello claimed that the fire fighters were sleeping on their job.
"They are not helping much, in fact, they are only aggravating the already bad situation," he said.
Last month governor Kinuthia Mbugua had to come to the defence of the department after its ability to tackle huge infernos were questioned by residents following an almost bungled battle with fire at the Rumish paints company.
Property of unknown value was destroyed in the mid-morning incident whose cause had been attributed to an electric fault.