The fire at Nairobi's Sarit Centre resulted from a faulty
photocopying machine at the
Copy X'press store
on the ground floor.
Witnesses said attendants attempted to put it off using a hand-held fire extinguisher but that this ignited the flames.
Mitchel Rikta, a tenant at the mall in Westlands, said Copy X'press managers took swift action but that the situation got out of control.
An alarm was sounded and tenants and shoppers evacuated from the building.
“We didn’t know it was spreading so we stayed inside our shop on second floor and made a cup of tea to calm our nerves," Rikta said.
"We later noticed smoke on our floor.
When we opened the door it all came in so we closed it, grabbed wet towels, clung onto each other and maneuvered our way out of our office."
Rikta, like several other traders, could not confirm whether or not their shops were destroyed by the fire because they were evacuated before the fire spread.
The fire, which started at around 10am, appeared to have been contained after Nairobi fire fighters worked for about an hour.
Rescuers and onlookers were, however, shocked when dark smoke engulfed parts of first and second floor, forcing another round of frantic efforts to put it out.
Raging flames were seen at the entrance, the lifts and stairs.
Fire engines from G4S, the Army, National Youth Service and KK Security were called in for reinforcement and two private water bowsers were driven to the scene
to replenish the fire engines.
Red Cross, AAR and County Ambulance service were on stand-by to offer first aid but there were no casualties.
Several business people counted their losses after the fire that mostly affected those on the first and second floors.
The extent of the loss was not established immediately
but damages could run into hundreds of millions.
The mall houses businesses including bookshops, a Bata shoe shop, electronics outlets, flight ticketing agencies, boutiques and ATM machines.
Carrefour supermarket took over the ground floor space once occupied by cash-strapped Uchumi supermarket.
An AAR clinic, a Multi Choice store, coffee shops and furniture showrooms are also in the building.
The incident exposed the wanting capacity of disaster response and management of the city county.
Fire fighters, for incidence, were occasionally overwhelmed by smoke and forced to back out because they did not have oxygen masks.
They only had dust masks and ordinary hand towels which they drenched with water and used to cover their faces.
“The problem is that when we get in, smoke blinds us and we can’t breathe so we have to run back out,” a Red Cross staff member said.
Following the fire, roads in the area were temporarily closed and motorists advised to avoid the Sarit Centre roundabout.
They were also asked to
avoid Karuna and Ring Roads and use Lower Kabete to access Westgate Mall and then Waiyaki Way down to Chiromo Road, and Parklands to Mpaka Road.