Image: COURTESY
Police in Nairobi are investigating the cause of a fire that gutted Ebrahim shopping mall in the central business district in the wee hours of Saturday.
Property of unknown value was destroyed on the first and second floors of the building situated along Moi Avenue.
There were, however, no injuries reported in the incident.
Eyewitnesses said the fire which started around 4 am may have started due to an electricity fault, reports police say they are yet to establish.
“For now we cannot confirm the cause until we conclude our investigations,” said an officer.
It took the firefighters from Nairobi City County more than two hours to respond and fully put out the fire from spreading to the neighboring premises.
Security officers who responded to the call cordoned off the area from the public as fire marshals struggled to contain the raging fire.
The last time a fire incident broke out in the City was in February 2022 at a building that houses Sunbeam Shopping Complex along Mfangano street.
Nairobi Fire Department, however, responded soon after the fire.
Governor Johnson Sakaja allocated Sh165 million to the city fire department in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, 2023 passed by the Assembly in June last year.
Out of this, Sh120 million was meant for the construction of fire stations in Gikomba, Kangemi and Clay City.
The new Kangundo Road fire station was allocated Sh25 million for registration, setting up and accreditation.
City Hall said another Sh20 million would go towards the renovation of the dormitory at Tom Mboya Fire Station.
Nairobians have always been forced to source private firefighting companies in cases of an emergency.
To address the problem, City Hall built fire stations in Waithaka, Kangundo, Ruaraka and Gigiri at roughly Sh1 billion.
The construction of the four new fire stations by City Hall came as a relief to city residents who have been relying on the Koja fire station and the one at the Industrial Area.
