Even as traders continue to decry losses caused by frequent fires, many have questioned the late arrival of empty fire engine trucks at scenes of fire.
This was the case for the Mutindwa Market which was on Wednesday morning reduced to ashes, destroying properties worth Sh100 million.
The fire started at around 2 am but it was not until an hour later that the county government fire brigade arrived at the scene.
Disaster and Emergency Management Chief Officer Bram Simiyu in a statement said that they received a call on the fire at 2:03 am but delayed because the City Hall team was responding to three other fire incidents.
“At that time the fire headquarters was attending a fire call in Kibera, Westlands and Mlolongo ( Machakos county) and then proceeded to Mutindwa,” Simiyu said.
However, traders and eyewitnesses at Mutindwa lamented that the fire engines arrived late and without water.
Simiyu noted that two water bowsers were dispatched to complement the engines.
“By the time the fire fighting, the emergency team arrived at the scene. The fire had consumed a good chunk of the market as the items involved were highly inflammable and the wind was strong,” he said.
The fire engines were late despite Mutindwa Market being less than five minutes from the new Kangundo Fire Station.
Mutindwa is a market located at the border of Umoja One ward and Buruburu estate.
Incidents of late and empty fire engines are not new as the same was experienced when Toi Market was razed over the weekend.
It was also a concern raised by Gikomba Market traders who have become prone to market fires.
The move to construct 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 Industrial Area for the last 116 years.
Nairobians have always been forced to source private firefighting companies in cases of emergency.
The new fire stations in Waithaka, Kang'undo, Ruaraka and Gigiri were built at roughly Sh1 billion.
Nairobi’s sixth fire station at Gigiri was undertaken by the then Nairobi Metropolitan Services in partnership with the county government and Scorpion Properties Limited and had its groundbreaking on November 4, 2021.
In February 2023, CCO Simiyu told the Star that Nairobi has a total of 16 operational fire engines.
Koja station has six fire engines, Kangundo Road (two), Ruaraka (one), Waithaka (one) and Enterprise Road Fire Station (four).
"Fire engines are distributed in all the stations. However, it depends on the availability of firefighters and the type of engines required for outpost stations and the emergency work involved,” Simuyu said.
Despite the decentralisation of the fire engines, they still arrive late at the fire scene and at most times without water.
Fire engines get their water supply from the 4,044 hydrants in Nairobi.
Most of the hydrants were damaged during the construction of the Thika Superhighway. In 2018 it was reported that only 103 out of the 4,044 hydrants were functional.
The functioning hydrants are located at Globe Roundabout, Runda, Kijabe Street, Safari Park, James Gichuru and three at Industrial Area.
World Bank is constructing boreholes along Enterprise Road, Kangundo Road, Tom Mboya Street, Waithaka and Dagoretti to revive the dried hydrants.
Nairobi currently has only 480 firefighters and in February, Governor Johson Sakaja's administration announced plans to recruit 300 firefighters.
Simiyu revealed that the headquarters ( Koja Station) will get 130 firefighters, Kangundo Road(80), Ruaraka(65), Waithaka(72) and Enterprise Road (90).
Gigiri was not to get any firefighters until the county finished furnishing the station.
On the Mutindwa and Toi Market fires Sakaja said investigations are ongoing to find solutions to curb market fires.
"We've agreed on decisive action to be taken after investigations into the Toi and Mtindwa fires," he said.
However, previous probes on market fires have never seen the light of day.
Call for probe, and promises by politicians are some of the tales traders are told after losing properties to the market fires.
In 2018, the Gikomba market experienced three fire cases which led to former President Uhuru Kenyatta calling for investigations.
Some 15 people died and at least 60 were injured when a section of the market dealing in timber and clothes razed.
Former Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti was asked by the senators to investigate the fire that residents claimed was “an outright case of arson.”
However, no report was ever tabled at the Senate on the fire incident.
In his manifesto, Sakaja pledged to construct 20 new markets across Nairobi to promote traders and decongest Gikomba and Wakulima, to provide an easy environment for doing business.
It is, however, a wait-and-see situation if the promises of the new regime will put an end to ruthless fires.