An early morning fire has torn through sections of the sprawling Gikomba Market in Nairobi, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake and plunging thousands of traders into uncertainty. The blaze gutted stores and reduced large quantities of merchandise to ash, dealing yet another heavy blow to one of the Kenyan capital's busiest and most important trading hubs.
According to Citizen TV Kenya, the fire reportedly broke out at around midnight, striking the market in the dead of night when activity had quietened down. With few people around at that hour to raise the alarm immediately, the flames were able to take hold before the scale of the emergency became fully apparent to traders and the authorities.
Once it had ignited, the fire spread rapidly through the market's tightly packed structures. Gikomba is known for its dense maze of stalls and stores built close together, and these cramped conditions allowed the flames to leap quickly from one section to the next, making it difficult to contain the blaze before it had already caused extensive damage.
The speed of the fire was made worse by the highly combustible nature of the goods stored in the area. The market is packed with clothing, textiles and other flammable merchandise, and these materials acted as fuel for the flames, helping the fire to grow in intensity and tear through stall after stall in a matter of minutes.
As the fire raged, thick smoke was seen rising above the market, billowing into the early morning sky and signalling the scale of the disaster to the surrounding neighbourhood. Traders and nearby residents gathered at the scene, many of them watching helplessly as the flames consumed stock and stalls that represented their livelihoods.
For the thousands of traders who depend on Gikomba for their daily income, the fire has translated into major financial losses. Many are now left counting the cost of destroyed stores and merchandise, facing the daunting prospect of rebuilding their businesses from scratch after seeing their goods and savings go up in flames overnight.
By the time of the report, the authorities had not yet established the cause of the blaze, with initial assessments still under way at the scene. As officials work to determine how the fire started and to tally the full extent of the damage, attention is once again turning to the recurring threat of fires at the densely built market and the safety of the traders who rely on it.