Another night of fire in Kenya, but this time it is not empty villas belonging to Italian tourists or beach bars; sadly, it is a school dormitory full of girls – and not the first such incident in the country.
And it is yet another tragic toll that rises with every passing hour.
Sixteen girls dead, seventy-four hospitalised, parents gathered outside the gates, not knowing whether their daughter is alive or not. In Kenya, dormitories continue to burn as if they were built specifically to remind us that tragedies here never truly end: they are merely waiting for the next fire.
Sixteen young lives cut short and a dormitory turned into a death trap.
This is the latest tragic toll from the fire that broke out overnight at the Utumishi Girls’ Academy in Gilgil, Nakuru County – yet another school tragedy that reopens a wound in Kenya that has never fully healed.
According to initial reports, the blaze is believed to have broken out around 1 am, although the official alarm was recorded by the Kenya Red Cross at around 3.30 am. Emergency crews, firefighters and ambulances rushed to the scene as panic spread through the dormitory amongst the girls trapped by the flames and smoke.
The Red Cross confirmed the deployment of its rescue teams, E-Plus ambulances and psychological support units to assist students, teachers and families in shock. The injured girls were mainly transferred to St Joseph’s Hospital in Gilgil, whilst the police and DCI investigators launched an inquiry to determine the cause of the fire and verify the exact number of people present in the dormitory.
Outside the school, meanwhile, hundreds of parents gathered at the gates, desperately seeking news of their daughters. The authorities restricted access to the school grounds, allowing entry only to immediate family members, whilst the difficult task of counting those present continued.
The tragedy inevitably brings to mind the devastating fire of September 2024, when twenty-one students aged between nine and thirteen were burned alive in another Kenyan school. At the time, there was talk of a short circuit, missing fire extinguishers and insufficient emergency exits. The government promised new regulations, rigorous checks and inspections in all schools across the country.
But in Kenya, official promises often last less than the smoke rising from burning roofs. And so, whilst the authorities are still investigating the causes of the Gilgil fire, there remains a bitter feeling that this tragedy, too, was a foregone conclusion.
In recent months, fires in Kenyan schools have risen alarmingly, forcing several institutions to close temporarily and reigniting the debate over safety conditions in school dormitories, many of which are overcrowded and lack adequate fire safety systems.
Meanwhile, in Gilgil, there remains only the heavy silence of dawn, broken by the wail of ambulance sirens and the weeping of parents. And yet another generation of Kenyan students discovering all too soon just how fragile a door closed in the night can be.