Fire Drill at NHIF Building in Nairobi Causes Panic

Occupants of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) building in Nairobi's Upper Hill area were evacuated in an emergency situation that took place on Wednesday morning.

Soon after a fire alarm went off in the building, the occupants rushed out in fear that their building was on fire only to find that it had been a fire drill.

Social media users shared the video of the evacuated occupants outside the building soon after they had been informed of the drill.

Here is a video that was shared by blogger Cyprian Nyakundi.

A fire drill at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in June 2017 caused a similar reaction as members of the public witnessed smoke rising from the building.

The drill was at the time conducted by the St John's Ambulance services ahead of the China Trade Fair which was in its third edition.

In 2015, the Kenya Red Cross in conjunction with the National Disaster Management Unit conducted a drill at Uchumi House along Aga Khan Walk that involved actors who played the role of victims.

The acting director at NDMU at the time, Mr Pius Kezaya conveyed that the first response teams had scored 95% on the management of the case.

Fire drills are a routine procedure required by law in order to get a compliance license renewed annually.

The factories and other places of work Act of 2007 Cap 514 23 (1) requires every occupier of a workplace  to conduct fire drills at least once in every period of twelve months and keep records of every drill.

[caption caption="Paramedics carry away a "victim" during a fire drill at the KICC in September 2017"][/caption]

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