A fire destroyed shops and homes in Baba Dogo, Ruaraka constituency on Saturday morning.
Residents said the fire started at a furniture shop at 7.30am and spread to adjacent shops and houses.
"It must have been caused by an electrical fault ... we rarely experience such incidents in this area," Aggrey Opiyo said.
Some residents used stagnant water on the roadside to try put out the fire, while others tried to salvage property and goods from the iron sheet structures.
A Nairobi county fire engine arrived two hours later, after the fire had been contained, and irate residents sent it away.
They accused the fire fighters of being slow to respond.
"Go back, we have finished the work. How can you come here not when we have been struggling all along to contain this fire," one said.
