More than 150 families spent their night in the cold after fire razed their houses in Athi River, Machakos County.
The incident occurred at Slota estate within Athi River Township in Mavoko.
Those affected included women, children and the elderly.
The residents were either asleep or were preparing to retire to bed when fire broke out in their residences.
Athi River East Subcounty Police Commander Anderson Mbae said property of unknown value was razed in Saturday’s dusk inferno.
The matter was reported to Athi River Police Station by the area assistant chief Martin Ngomo as a fire incident report at 12.15 am, early Sunday.
Mbae said the administrator reported the incident to the station through a telephone prompting police officers to swiftly respond to the scene.
“He reported that there was a fire outbreak at Slota area. The OCS and his team together with DCI personnel rushed to the scene where it was established that the fire started from a single-roomed iron sheet–structured house and spread to adjacent households razing several iron sheets units,” Mbae told the Star by phone on Sunday.
“Properties of unknown value were destroyed with about 150 families affected. There was no injury reported though,” Mbae said.
He said Machakos County Government’s fire brigade, stationed at Mavoko Subcounty, contained the fire from spreading to neighborhood and more houses within the scene.
The police boss said the cause of the fire was yet to be established.
He said the scene had been secured pending processing by the crime scene investigators.
Mbae said Directorate of Criminal Investigations sleuths, attached to the Athi River police station had launched a probe into the incident.
