Over 30 children living with various forms of disabilities at Jomo Kenyatta Children’s Home in Embu Town have been left homeless after a fire razed down their sanctuary in the wee hours on Friday morning.
No one was injured during the 3 am inferno as the 12 children who were at the home were evacuated to safety with the rest said to have gone home for the mid-term break.
The home established 48 years ago is run by Kenya Red Cross Embu Branch.
According to KRS County Coordinator in Charge of Embu and Kirinyaga Martin Kagunda, the blaze started at an office near the main entrance to the home and spread quickly to the adjacent structures including kitchen and dormitory.
He said they were only able to evacuate the children to safety and salvage a few items before all the structures were engulfed in fire leading to losses running into millions of shillings.
“The damage is extensive and we do not know where the children will spend the night and how we shall accommodate the others who are set to come back on Monday after the mid-term break,” he said while appealing for help from well-wishers.
It took the intervention of the neighboring Tharaka Nithi County that sent two fire extinguishers to put off the inferno with questions lingering on the preparedness of Embu County Government in disaster response as all the three fire Engines are said to be broken down.
“We called the County Government and they were able to get us fire engines from Tharaka Nithi County that arrived two hours later,” Kagunda said.
The cause of the fire has not been established and authorities commence investigations.
By Samuel Waititu
