2009 Nakumatt Supermarket Fire - Inferno

Inferno

The fire began on 28 January 2009, a Wednesday afternoon, when the Woolworths Building which housed Nakumatt Downtown Nairobi caught fire at 3:00 PM. The blaze which was still being fought twenty-four hours later. A power transformer had earlier blown and there were reports that gas cylinders on sale at the supermarket and chemicals at a hardware shop in the neighbouring Alibhai Shariff Building had fueled the inferno. Members of the public helped to fight the blaze which ensued. Thousands of people were evacuated from their offices in downtown Nairobi as plumes of black smoke were sent into the sky overhead. The smoke forced the evacuation of some nearby buildings, with police employing whips, horses and teargas to beat back curious crowds. One man died after leaping from an upper floor of the burning supermarket, whilst one other man, Nakumatt employee Jeremiah Omoyo, also leaped off the roof to escape the blaze but survived. Another Nakumatt employee told Kenya's The Standard newspaper that the crowd were encouraging the trapped customers and employees to jump. The Kenyan media has criticised the emergency response, claiming that firefighters arrived late and in inadequate numbers. Daily Nation, the largest newspaper in Kenya, remarked on the way the fire was handled and responded to by saying, "It is fair to say that ours is a modern city with an 18th century fire-fighting infrastructure." The City Council Fire Brigade were helped by 2 private companies with fire engines - G4S and Knight Support. This is the first of two tragedies to happen in Kenya in the same week; at least 113 people were killed when an oil spill caught fire in Molo.