An inferno at Kipchimat supermarket in Bomet town has destroyed goods worth millions of shillings. The fire also caused lots of anxiety and disruption in the neighboring businesses.
The fire broke out in the wee hours of the night at around 3 am on Sunday, July 16. The inferno went on to raze down the entire property. Fortunately, there were no injuries or lives lost during the incident.
Following the unfortunate event, the business community in Bomet called on the county government to procure more fire engines. They asked the county leadership to further equip the Disaster management department as it took the intervention of the Kericho team to put out the fire.
So huge was the fire that it wiped out everything in the supermarket.
Agness Cherotich, the owner of the guttered supermarket told the media that she was informed of the fire at 4.30 am. She lamented that unfortunately for her, nothing was salvaged from the inferno.
“It was around 4.30 am when I was informed of this unfortunate incident. It saddens me that nothing was saved. We don’t know where to start again. So far we have not established the cause of the fire. We also do not know the actual worth of goods we have lost,” she said.
Stanley Mutai, a disaster officer in Bomet County said efforts to put off the fire were futile. This is because the fire spread out fast covering the entire building within a short period.
“It took us, the disaster team, and the Kenya Red Cross from Bomet and Kericho almost three hours to put out the fire. The property is now safe though nothing was saved from the fire,” added the disaster officer.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established. However preliminary reports indicate it might have been caused by an electricity fault within the premises.
