Bomet supermarket destroyed by fire

A fire outbreak destroyed property worth millions of shillings at Kipchimatt Supermarket outlet in Bomet town on Saturday morning.

The fire, suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault, broke out shortly before 4:30am, according to eyewitnesses.

Mr Alfred Soi, a director at Kipchimatt Supermarkets - a family-owned retail business with outlets in Kericho, Bomet, Kisumu and Nandi counties - said the cause of the fire was yet to be established.

No one was injured in the incident and Kenya Power engineers have been dispatched to the scene to disconnect power to neighbouring buildings while an assessment is carried out.

Ms Agnes Cherotich and Mr Joel Cheruiyot, the managers of the affected building where the supermarket chain is a tenant along Kipchamba Street, said goods worth tens of millions of shillings went up in smoke in the incident.

"We were informed of the fire outbreak around 5am and by the time we got here, members of the public were fighting to contain the fire but it had spread too fast and the goods were reduced to ashes," Ms Cherotich said.

She said that in addition to the goods, the fire, which was still not fully contained at press time, had destroyed the entire building.

"It was sheer luck that the fire did not spread to the adjoining buildings where the owners were able to remove their goods and move them to safer places," said Mr Joseph Korir, a businessman.

Mr Musa Imamai, the Bomet Central sub-county police commander, said investigations into the cause of the incident had begun.

Firefighters from Bomet and Kericho county governments joined police and members of the public in extinguishing the fire.