A man has died in a fire inferno ,after his house was razed down at Aldina village in Jomvu constituency, Mombasa County.
Gideon Mzungu’s body was burnt beyond recognition during the midnight incidence .
According to County Chief fire officer,Ibrahim Basafar said that the man who was burnt beyond recognition might have been intoxicated and suffocated by smoke when trying to wake up.
“The fire was reported to our department at around 0013hrs and we responded in 10 minutes time, We were forced to look for another alternative root and asking neighbors to come out with buckets and basins to fetch water from the hose end point of reach because the building was inaccessible by our fire engines due to poor planning .The man must might have been intoxicated and suffocated by smoke making it hard for him to escape from the burning house. He was burnt beyond recognition and succumbed,” said Chief Basafar.
Basafar also noted that, recently there has been an alarming increase in the number of fire cases in the county, saying that a total of eighteen incidents had been reported in a span of two weeks which was equivalent to a mean average of one incident per day.
‘’We have had 18 incidents of fire within the county in a span of two weeks which means an average of one per day. People don’t support fire fighters but we play a major role in the community. In many cases the community turns against us instead of cooperating and working with us, like the most recent one is the one which occurred at Soweto village-Kadzandani ward where a seven unit self contained house had gone on fire, a crowd tried to prevent the fire fighting team from containing the fire but we thank the police from Mwatamba and Mbungoni plice stations who ensured calm was maintained and with the help of residents We managed ttoput the fire off without affecting the surrounding properties.
Poor planning leads to all these misunderstandings. A fire engine cannot fold itself to fit that narrow route, then callers gives direction that on the main cabro or paved or known road is not on the known topography. So this is what firefighters go through but we wil not limit our service to the citizens.’’ Basaf added.
Jomvu sub-county police commander , Peter Maluki, however said that police had moved the remains of the deceased to the coast general and referral hospital pending further identification as investigations to establish the cause of the fire goes on.
