On Friday, October 29, a group of residents from Mwangaza, Tana River County, were forced to turn to the internet to save a whole neighbourhood from going up in flames.
The fire broke out at the house of Tana River’s Education accounting officer, Fatuma Bona, and destroyed property worth hundreds of thousands.
According to her neighbors, they noticed the fire outbreak from one side of the house, then later got a call for help from an occupant.
"We helped them out as others gathered water with baskets to put out the fire," Salim Kalime, a neighbor, narrated.
Their efforts however bore no fruits, as the fire threatened to spread to other houses.
They decided to call for help from the fire fighters, who were about 2 kilometres from the scene, but there was no driver or operator of the fire trucks at the offices.
As the fire was spreading, several residents volunteered to go to the county fire department to get the fire trucks.
However, after arriving at the scene, they were faced with an even tougher challenge since no one could operate the machines.
It is then that they turned to google to search for firefighting procedures, and after following the instructions, they successfully put out the fire.
"We had to think and act fast for us to salvage the house from burning down, so we turned to Google which came in handy," stated Ishmael Jumaa, one of the residents.
They were able to save hundreds of people from being left homeless, although they could not save the county official’s house.
Shortly after putting out the fire, police officers arrived at the scene to help, but the angry youths attacked them, forcing the officers to flee.
The residents complained that there haven’t been any operators for a long time, and urged the county government to employ people who will be managing the equipment.
"These trucks have been there for two years without operators. It is time they hire people for these jobs since fire incidents in the county are on the rise," noted Mwanahamisi Swaleh.
