Airport fire raises concern

NAIROBI, Kenya – When immigration officer Phillip Ogembo arrived at the Nairobi airport just after 7 a.m. on Wednesday, he found his office in the international terminal a wall of orange flame.

Instead of going to work, Ogembo, 34, joined a throng of airport workers watching firefighters struggling without adequate water and equipment to put out an inferno that sent flames and billowing black smoke into the air for hours.

The blaze reportedly took hold around dawn in the immigration area of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, a major regional hub in East Africa for tourism and cargo. Officials said there were no casualties, but the economic impact was likely to be considerable. And the fire raised serious doubts about authorities’ ability to respond.

It was not immediately known what caused the fire, Kenya’s presidency said. The fire broke out at a time of heightened worry over possible terror plots that have prompted U.S. officials to close embassies and other facilities in a number of countries.

But officials ruled out a criminal act, including a terrorist attack. There was no claim of responsibility and the incident did not appear to involve an explosion or otherwise follow the pattern of terror attacks in Kenya.

Ben Ngunga, a manager for Abercrombie & Kent Tours, said the fire would have a huge effect on tourism companies and the government’s coffers. August is traditionally the busiest month for tourism.

Domestic flights resumed Wednesday evening. Manoah Esipisu, a spokesman for President Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters that aviation authorities had cleared the cramped domestic terminal for international flights. Flights from Bangkok and London were to resume today, a Kenya Airways spokesman said.

But with thousands of passengers traveling through the airport daily, the domestic terminal will probably struggle to accommodate the crowds.

Many Kenyans saw the response to the emergency as slow and inadequate. Local media reported that firetrucks lacked sufficient water to contain the blaze quickly.

The Daily Nation newspaper reported last month that the Nairobi Council didn’t have a single working fire engine and had auctioned one off to pay a repair bill. Most of the fire engines fighting the airport blaze Wednesday were from private firms, the Associated Press reported.

“I think we are lagging too far behind as a country in handling such incidents,” said Ogembo, the immigration officer, who was standing outside the airport watching firetrucks try to bring the blaze under control. “It’s painful to witness this.”