The building that caught fire at Ganjoni area in Mombasa. Photo: Omar Makanja/ hivisasa.com
Property worth millions of shillings was on Monday destroyed after a fire broke out at a construction site in Ganjoni area, Mombasa.Confirming the incident, Ganjoni ward administrator David Kithuandi said the fire broke out on the ground floor, where a heap of timber used for construction had been stored."The fire broke out at around 12 noon following a huge explosion. Lucky enough, I was at the scene and managed to contact the fire brigade team which responded quickly. Unfortunately the fire had spread, and it took hours for it to be put off,” said Kithuandi.It is reported that the team comprising of the county government fire brigade, National Youth Service (NYS) and Kenya Ports Authority took close to four hours to completely extinguish the fire.Neighbours living adjacent to the building said they had asked the owner of the building to exercise caution."We had asked the owner of the building to be vigilant about our safety. He didn't listen to us and instead continued to construct the building. Now my roof which cost me half a million has been destroyed,” said AbdulAziz Omar, a neighbour.Omar said they had reported the issue to the relevant authorities but no action had been taken against the building's owner.No one was injured during the incident.