Double Fire Tragedy of Kenya

Objective: Within days of each other, 2 catastrophic fires occurred in Kenya. On January 28, 2009, a busy supermarket was destroyed in downtown Nairobi. Shortly thereafter on February 2, an overturned petrol tanker exploded near the village of Molo, 200 km from the capital. These 2 disasters, in an urban and a rural setting, respectively, illustrate the lack of disaster readiness on a local and national level. Methods: A call for assistance was responded to by the James Jordan Foundation, which sponsored a team from the United States to provide consultation and patient care. Subsequent to this team's experiences, a review of medical records at the Kenyatta National Hospital, interactions with government health officials, and investigation of public media resources, the following observations are reported. Results: Twenty-six victims died in the supermarket fire, and 20 who were admitted to local hospitals later succumbed. At Molo, 91 lives were claimed at the scene; 178 patients were admitted to various hospitals, 40 of whom died. Conclusion: The fires brought to light factors contributing to these events and their outcomes. In addition, it produced improvised solutions for resuscitation of mass casualties and the performance of emergency surgery with inadequate equipment and facilities.