Fire in Nairobi's Upper Hill - June 15, 2009.
That famous song by Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning came to mind this morning on my way to my office. I spotted a large brown cloud of smoke rising above the area where my office is. Nearing the site I discovered the road closed and had to take a detour through town to my office - which thankfully was not the source of the smoke.
The fire was a block down the road - a 2 story wooden building. The crowd watching the building burn was growing steadily - asking around I learned it was a residential building used by members of the military police. On one side of the building people were frantically throwing their belongings including beds, clothes, cupboards etc out of windows, while meters away the building was burning.
I estimate that the time between me noticing the smoke, detouring through town to the office and arriving at the scene (on foot after parking the car) was about 30 minutes. When I arrived no fire engines were to be seen. Several army officers and many police were on site though trying to calm the crowd.
Just then a fire truck arrived, belonging to one of the several private security security firms in Nairobi. Cheers arose from the crowd, but it was to be short lived - within minutes the water gushing from the single hose died, and the truck left - its tank empty. A second fire truck arrived next, but just parked itself - no water either!
The heat from the flames was intense, and occasional explosions rocked the building and caused the crowd to gasp, scream and jump. By now the crowd was changing from excited to agitated - an angry mob. Just then the riot police arrived wearing helmets, and carrying sticks and tear-gas guns. The crowd shouted some playful jeers at the officers, but you could see their fear as they began moving away - causing somewhat of a minor stampede in the process.
About that time - atleast an hour after the fire started more fire engines started to arrive - A couple of vehicles from the Nairobi fire department, and also several more from private firms. With these came several water tankers. By this point though, the fire had spread to an adjacent wing of the building and it was burning out of control.
Shortly after that I left the scene, however since then - about noon there have been a steady stream of water trucks and some more fire engines heading to the scene. I also say a large bulldozer being escorted in that direction.
Water is scarce in Nairobi, and the traffic can be nasty, but an hour response is way too long if lives and property are to be saved. Perhaps Nairobi should invest in more fire engines - and keep them filled with water for this kind of eventuality?
