Lack of a fire engine in Naivasha has come back to haunt the county government after the lakeside town recorded yet another fire incident that saw property worth millions of shillings reduced to ashes.
For over two hours, area residents battled the fire in Kabati estate before they received support from a fire engine from NYS training school in Gilgil.
During the Wednesday morning incident at Boma area opposite Milimani primary school, emotions ran high as residents lashed out at the county government for the continued suffering.
In the last two months, the town which does not have a serving fire engine has recorded over ten fire incidents in which one disabled minor has been burnt to death and tons left homeless.
In the latest incident, a suspected electrical fault saw a furniture shop, several houses and a motor vehicle burnt down before the fire was contained.
A worker in one of the shops David Gikonyo said that the fire was caused by an electrical fault adding that lack of fire fighting equipment hampered efforts to stop it from spreading.
He noted that they had to wait for hours to get support from the NYS fire engine adding that little was salvaged during the morning incident.
“We used all the water we had in trying to control the fire and if we had a fire engine this inferno could have been contained,” he said.
A resident, Mwangi Muraya said that Naivasha residents had suffered for long due to lack of planning and accountability by the county government.
“The county decided to relocate the fire engine from Naivasha to Nakuru and as result we have been left to suffer every day,” he said.
Lakeview MCA Simon Wanyoike admitted that the transfer of the fire engine was a major mistake with property worth millions burnt down.
“In the last one month we have lost one life and property worth millions due to fire outbreaks and we are demanding that the county buys an extra fire engine for Naivasha,” he said.
This was echoed by Viwandani MCA Eric Gichuki who thanked NYS for responding to the fire incident that was threatening to spread to neighboring buildings.
“We have to admit that the department of disaster management in the county has failed in addressing the issue of a fire engine and we shall raise this matter in the assembly,” he said.