Fire destroys houses in Ndenderu, leaving families homeless

A fire on Wednesday afternoon destroyed rental houses in a tiny neighbourhood in Ndenderu area, in Kiambu county.

Two of the houses – mostly made from iron sheets and sitting within a homestead – were burned to the ground in the afternoon fire.

A huge cloud of smoke filled the sky for a better part of the afternoon. It is not clear what may have caused the fire.

Firefighters from Kiambu county spent times at the scene trying to put out the fire, which according to residents, left a trail of destruction.

The mabati houses, which serve a section of low income tenants in the area, housed families; fathers, mothers and children.

There are no reports of any injuries or casualties at the moment, according to the residents.

According to Humphrey Kamau, a resident of Ndenderu, “I just heard people screaming, and when I looked, I saw the fire. That is when we started trying to save some of the property.”

Kamau noted that nothing much was salvaged from the fire, with the affected families now left to start from scratch.

“They obviously need help, some of them don’t even have a house to go to when it gets dark,” said one of the residents.