[ A section of a bulding destroyed by fire in Kisii town in a past incident. Traders in Mogonga are counting loses after fire destroyed property worth millions. Photo/Hivisasa.com]
Traders in Mogonga Township, Kenyenya Sub-county, Kisii County, are counting their losses after a fire that gutted shops in the market last night.
The fire, said to have begun at around 1 a.m., swept through the row of mabati kiosks at the busy market in a trail of destruction that left several business premises gutted.
Mr Phillip Nyabuto, a trader at the market, told Hivisasa.com of his lucky escape after he woke up just in time to escape the flames.
"I was woken up by screams of neighbouring traders and thick smoke billowing into my room," said Mr Nyabuto.
The trader said he immediately began to evacuate his goods from his residence which also houses the retail shop he operates in the market.
"I did my best to move my stock outside to safety but looters took most of it," Mr Nyabuto said.
Among the items he lost were sh 6, 000 in cash, 204 crates of soda, 16 crates of bread, a sound system and other assorted household goods.
"I have lost property worth over Sh 500, 000, including my day's cash sale returns which went in up in flames, burning with greenish smoke. This is extremely painful considering that I was still repaying loans at the rate of Sh 8, 000," a tearful Mr Nyabuto said.
He and his wife, Veronicah Nyabuto, have been resident traders at the market for over 25 years, being one of the pioneers in the busy trading centre.
"I have lived here for more than 25 years. With a terrible loss such as this, where will I go? I don't know what to do next," he said, tears freely flowing down his face.
His wife, Veronica Nyavuto, was equally inconsolable, saying she too had borrowed money from a local merry go round to boost her business stock.
"We have lost everything, including our clothes and other household items. It is the darkest day of our lives," she sobbed.
Another trader, Ms Hellen Nyaboke, said she had lost all her stock in the fire including bananas and beans worth 50, 000.
"All the stock that I normally sell was lost in the fire. I did not salvage a single thing," said Ms Nyaboke, a mother of five.
Kisii County Police commander Agnes Mudambi however said her officers were yet to brief her on the incident.
"The area OCPD has not yet received a report on the fire and so I cannot give you concrete details on the same. I will brief you as soon as he furnishes me with the information," said Ms Mudambi.
Traders and residents accused the Kisii County Disaster Management Department of laxity and incompetence in handling the emergency, saying its fire truck came more than 2 hours after the blaze broke out.
Kisii County Disaster Management Director Mr Julius Tinega however defended his officers from blame over the incident, sating they has arrived on time, only to be chased from the scene.
"My firefighters arrived less than an hour later, but rowdy youth at the scene threw stones at the fire truck, forcing them to make a hasty exit. It was an unfortunate incident tat hampered our emergency containment efforts," he said.
Rev Samson Mutwiri of the Methodist Church which owns the plot where the shops are situated, differed with the county disaster management boss, saying the fire brigade not only delayed in getting to the disaster area, but also allowed the fire to continue its destructive spread.
"When the truck arrived, we were surprised to see it drive past the scene, only to return later after the flames had spread to other structures in the market. Our losses couLd have been reduced had it arrived on time," said Rev Mutwiri of the Methodist Church.
He appealed to the government to assist the victims of the fire, saying most of them had lost all their belongings in the inferno.
Rev Mutwiri, who identified some of the affected traders as part of his church flock, estimated the damage at Sh 2.5 m.