At least seven people have lost their lives in separate fire incidents including a suspected arson attack in Isiolo's Bulapesa area that has claimed the lives of five family members.
The victims in the Bulapesa fire include a 45-year-old mother, her three children aged between seven and 15, and a cousin, all of whom were trapped inside their house when the fire started.
Locals alleged the fire was a revenge act stemming from a love triangle dispute. An angry mob attacked and lynched a suspected perpetrator before torching her house.
The Isiolo family was buried swiftly in accordance with Muslim customs, leaving behind one surviving child - a son who is currently in Form Four. Police have since launched investigations into the suspected arson, the subsequent mob killing, and the circumstances surrounding all the fire-related deaths.
Other than the tragedy in Isiolo, there were two other fire incidents in Nairobi and Nyeri counties, with two more fatalities reported in the latter.
In Mathira constituency, Nyeri county, two children aged four and eight died after a night fire consumed their two-bedroom house. The fire is said to have broken out in one of the bedrooms where the children were sleeping, leading to their deaths.
The cause of the fire was not immediately identified and authorities are continuing the investigations.
In Nairobi County, hundreds of Kamukunji residents were left counting losses after a Wednesday, July 16, morning fire razed their houses.
According to a video seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the residents narrated that the fire broke out at dawn and spread out too quickly, burning down several houses.
Witnesses alleged that the fire was caused by unknown individuals who placed tires under a container then set them ablaze; the fire then spread from the container to the nearby houses.
The resident explained that the fire became even bigger after electric cables, which were caught by the fire, also burst. The distressed residents blamed the Nairobi County fire department for a slow response, which led most of them to lose almost everything in the fire.
''The biggest challenge is the response we got from the firefighters; they arrived very late, and setting up also took a lot of time, leading us to lose more than we could have salvaged,'' one of the residents tearfully decried.
According to the area chairman, they had made previous efforts to contain the fire, but it grew bigger and they couldn't contain it.
By morning, dozens of families, including mothers and children, were seen sitting on the roadside with the little they managed to salvage. Most appeared confused, unsure of where to go or how to begin rebuilding their lives.
