Hundreds of business owner are counting losses following wildfire outbreak that consumed their business entities in Kitengela at their watch.
The incident which started from one of the stalls quickly spread to the surrounding boutiques, furniture kiosks and electrical shop gutting them to ashes.
According to one of the eye witnesses, one of the shops vending gas cylinders prevented will-wishers from salvaging the situation due to the fear of catching fire from exploding gas cylinders.
The eye witness also alleged that the stall owner had illegal electrical installation which is largely suspected to have been the course of the wildfire.
“The fire started from one of the stalls which we strongly believe had an illegal electricity connection,” said the witness.
Attempts by the county fire brigade bore no fruits as the large mass of onlookers who were busy recording the incident on their mobile phones blocked the Namanga highway, a route to the incident.
At some point, police officers were forced to fire teargas to disperse the onlookers who kept growing in a staggering manner.
One of the business owners, owning a multimillion furniture kiosks said that his stock worth 30 million was reduced to ashes.
This he said as several other owners of the burnt premises continued collecting scrap metals from the heaps of ash that resulted from the ordeal.
Kenya power officers have been called upon to be on high alert to detect illegal connections and sue the owners of such businesses accordingly.
This follows several similar cases in major towns with Gikomba Market suffering more from such incidences.
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