Nyandarua residents demand more fire engines

Residents of Kinangop and Kipipiri Constituencies have appealed to the county government to buy more firefighting equipment and station them at Engineer town following cases of mysterious fires causing deaths and destruction of property.

It has, however, emerged that they might have to wait longer for the services since the government has no immediate plans to buy such equipment soon.

The county has one modern fire equipment stationed in Ol Kalou Town, some 60 kilometres from Engineer town, 80 kilometres from Njabini town, and 138 kilometres from Magumu town, areas that have experienced increased fire incidents.

Residents say that if stationed at Engineer town in Kinangop constituency, the equipment will be in a more central place to serve Geta Bush in Kipipiri Constituency and the entire Kinangop Constituency.

Engineer town is also the second busiest in development from Ol Kalou town and also the second in generating levies for the Nyandarua County Government.

Several incidents

The latest fire incident happened on Sunday when more than 10 business premises were destroyed in Engineer town, about two months after over 75 percent of Geta Bush market was destroyed by a fire that also killed an elderly woman.

This was the second fire in Geta Bush this year, with several incidents reported in the past.

“We rely on firefighters from Naivasha in Nakuru County which take long to arrive due to coordination between the two county governments. Engineer and Magumu towns are fast-growing with many businesses and others coming up. We deserve equipment to serve the area,” said a trader Mr Abraham Weru.

Other fire incidents in Kinangop include an incident where three minors aged between one year and four years old perished in a house fire at Githabai area.

In the current financial year, the county government has no allocation for the purchase of additional firefighting equipment.

[email protected]