A massive fire broke out on Friday at a factory within Wall Street Business Park along Old Mombasa Road in Nairobi, sending thick columns of black smoke billowing into the sky and throwing one of the city’s busiest industrial complexes into chaos.
Emergency response teams were dispatched to the scene shortly after the blaze was reported, with firefighters racing to contain the flames and prevent them from spreading to neighbouring warehouses within the densely packed business park. Access to parts of the complex was partially restricted to allow firefighting operations to proceed without interference.
Footage obtained from the scene showed huge flames consuming the factory structure as dark smoke rose high enough to be visible from several kilometres away. The intensity of the fire drew large crowds of onlookers, with motorists and nearby residents stopping to watch as rescue teams worked under difficult conditions.
Wall Street Business Park is one of Nairobi’s most active industrial and warehousing hubs, hosting logistics companies, freight handlers, distributors, and manufacturers. Its strategic location off Old Mombasa Road, a key corridor linking Nairobi to the Port of Mombasa and onward to Uganda, Rwanda, and eastern Congo, means disruptions there carry significant economic weight far beyond the city.
By the time of publication, the cause of the fire had not been established, and the relevant authorities had yet to confirm whether there were any casualties or injuries. Investigators were expected to launch a formal assessment once the fire had been fully tamed.
The incident adds to a troubling surge in fire outbreaks across Nairobi in recent days. Just five days earlier, on June 21, a devastating fire swept through Gikomba Market in the early hours of the morning, killing at least two people, injuring several others, and destroying large sections of the market including the timber yard, fish section, and stalls storing bales of second-hand clothes.
Safety experts have long warned of systemic risks across Nairobi’s older industrial parks, pointing to overloaded electrical systems, inadequate fire suppression infrastructure, improper storage of flammable materials, and narrow access roads that hamper the deployment of heavy fire engines during emergencies.
The Wall Street Business Park fire raises fresh questions about enforcement of fire safety standards at industrial facilities and the readiness of emergency response systems to handle large-scale blazes in densely occupied commercial zones.
Authorities are yet to issue a formal statement.
