Fire Breaks Out In Kikuyu, Destroying Property
The cause of the fire is yet to be established, even as residents accused fire and emergency responders of taking too long to respond to the incident despite them reaching out to them.
Marvin Chege 
A fire broke out in the afternoon of Friday, January 3, destroying property of unknown value at Kikuyu town near a footbridge along the Southern Bypass in Nairobi.
The inferno is still raging by the time of publishing this article, with the flame visible from the highway according to photos obtained by Viral Tea. A fire engine can be spotted at the scene.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established, even as residents accused fire and emergency responders of taking too long to respond to the incident despite them reaching out to them.
In a live feed of the fire on TikTok, a witness can be heard telling CNN journalist Larry Madowo that it took emergency responders 40 minutes to arrive at the scene.
Screengrabs of a fire that broke out at Kikuyu footbridge on the Southern Bypass on Friday, January 3, 2025.
Videos seen by Viral Tea showed the huge inferno visible from a high point as residents rushed to save their property, among them gas cylinders, and nearby businesses, including a mattress shop and a butchery.
The witnesses at the scene also wondered why it took so long for the responders to arrive, despite the Kiambu County Fire Station for the area being located less than 1 km away from the scene.
Traffic on the service lane of the bypass was also brought to a standstill with curious onlookers thronging the scene to get a glimpse of how first responders were containing the fire.
Kikuyu is a town in Kiambu County, Kenya, which grew from a settlement of colonial missionaries. The town is located about 20 km (12 mi) northwest of central Nairobi. It is about 20 minutes from Nairobi via a number of routes, including a dual carriage road, and the Southern Bypass and has a railway station on the Mombasa – Malaba Railway Line.
The town is also located in the Kikuyu Constituency, an electoral constituency which is one of twelve constituencies in Kiambu County and was established during the 1963 elections. Kimani Ichung’wah is the Member of Parliament for the constituency.
This is not the first time a fire has broken out in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area (NMA). In the city, a fire on August 3, 2024 ravaged Toi Market in Kibra, leaving four people dead.
The early morning fire left traders counting their losses. It broke out at around 4 am and destroyed all the business structures, with residents waking up to charred remains of the market, a matter which left the local community in shock and mourning.
It was not immediately clear how the four victims found themselves at the centre of the incident, but reports indicated that they had gone to rescue their properties which were being consumed by the deadly fire. A child was among the four who died.
Woodley area chief Nehemiah Amwocha said the fire could have emanated from one of the kiosks before spreading fast to other structures. Toi Market chair Kenneth Jumba noted that he suspected the fire was started intentionally.
