Traders in Nakuru town are counting losses estimated at millions of shillings after fire gutted down their business premises on Sunday night.
Area police boss Bernard Kioko, who confirmed the incident, said the fire started at about 8pm on Sunday from one of the shops within the building. The fire then spread fiercely to the neighbouring shops where it destroyed merchandise on the third and fourth floors of the building within the Nakuru town centre.
“As you can see, it is still hard to gain access and estimate the loss," Kioko said.
"We cannot immediately establish the cause of the fire but investigations have been launched to establish what caused it. It was difficult for the public to salvage goods from the affected shops as traders had already locked their premises.”
Witnesses said the huge fire spread very fast, making it hard to put out. Nobody was hurt in the incident as many of the traders had closed their businesses.
Activities came to a standstill in the busy town as locals and firefighters from the county fire brigade combined efforts to put out the inferno. After three hours, they managed to contain the raging fire and by 11pm, police had cordoned off roads leading to the building to prevent looters and control traffic.
The ground and first floors which stock food and kitchen merchandise were not affected.
Passers-by said they saw heavy smoke billowing from the top roof of the shopping mall and immediately called for help but the fire took a while to contain.
Biashara ward county assembly member Stephen Kuria visited the scene and expressed his sympathies to the victims of the inferno.