Fire Engulfs Five-storey Apartment Building in Ongata Rongai

Residential apartment building in Ongata Rongai behind Maasai Mall on fire. /SCREENGRABA fire engulfed a five-storey residential apartment building behind Maasai Mall in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County, on Tuesday morning, with residents raising concerns over delays in emergency response.

Residents said the fire at Mbagathi Greens Estate broke out in the early hours of the morning and was still burning as of 8.30am, with no emergency response reported at the time.

Videos shared on social media platform X showed flames spreading from the upper floors of the building as darkness gave way to daylight.

The incident triggered an outpouring of concern online, with Kenyans questioning the preparedness of national and county disaster response teams to deal with fires and other emergencies.

Some users also raised concerns about the availability of water and other resources needed by fire crews to contain major blazes.

“Emergency response in this country is in the pits. I hope there are no casualties,” one user wrote, recalling an incident in which they called the Voi fire brigade after a truck caught fire near Maneaters.

The user claimed the brigade responded that it had no fuel and would have to stop at a petrol station for the caller to pay for it.

Another user questioned the preparedness of emergency teams, drawing comparisons with the response to a separate collapsed building incident in Eastleigh.

“Eastleigh survivors and victims haven’t even been saved as of now and then this happens, then fire trucks go to the scene without water. How are we not prepared for such incidences?” the user wrote.

Others expressed concern over the potential destruction of property, with one user describing the burning building as a significant investment going up in flames.

As of 8.30am, no fatalities or injuries had been reported, although the fire was still drawing attention online as residents appealed for emergency assistance.

“What will they come to put out when the whole building is down,” a resident recording the fire from a nearby highrise building said, suggesting that police should also be equipped with firefighting engines since they were the first on the scene.

The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage had not been established by the time of publication.

The incident has also brought renewed attention to concerns about fire emergency response capacity in Kajiado county, particularly in fast-growing urban centres such as Ongata Rongai.

Ongata Rongai lies about 17 kilometres south of Nairobi’s central business district and has experienced significant residential development.

The town has no firefighting station and its immediate access to emergency response would be from Nairobi, depending on the availability of fire engines.