Transport was paralyzed for three hours on busy Nairobi - Mombasa Highway as the fire brigade fought a huge inferno on a trailer in Mlolongo town, Machakos County on Wednesday.
The vehicle belonging to Ruiru Feeds Limited Company which had been parked for several hours along the road, few metres from the Mlolongo's Weighbridge caught fire upon ignition by its driver to move it to the bridge for weighing.
Motorists including drivers of PSV, personal vehicles and those of trucks, trailers and containers waiting to be weighed were forced to remain stuck in heavy traffic jam as brigade crew from Mavoko Sub-county fought the fire.
Mavoko Sub-county's Regional Fire Brigade Supervisor, Duncan Kamatu, said it forced their fire engines to use incoming road from Nairobi to get to the scene due to the heavy traffic.
Kamatu who was speaking to press at the scene shortly after putting off the fire said they had been alerted on the emergency by Athi River Highway Patrol Police officers who were controlling the traffic when the incident occurred.
He said they successfully managed to put the fire off, though it completely consumed the vehicle's cabin but leaving all its other parts in a good condition.
The trailer's driver, Mandikwa Gidhome, said the fire resulted from a shot in the vehicle's engine when he ignited it.
Gidhome said he was transporting steel from Apex Company Limited in Athi River to Funzi Company Limited at the Nairobi's Industrial Area before the incident happened.
He said both his turn boy and himself managed to escape from the vehicle without any injuries though they both lost their valuables since the whole cabin got burnt down.