An empty house is all that a poor family at Tshilungoma Ha Thukutha is left with, after a raging fire swallowed up all their possessions.

The incident happened late on Sunday, leaving the family with nothing as everything was burnt to ashes in the raging inferno. A mentally retarded man is alleged to be the only person who was at home during the incident. His mother is believed to be away for a funeral at another village.

The man, who claims to be 25 years, could hardly utter a word, but said he was cooking food when an electric fault occurred. He claims he saw fire from the wires and then there was smoke all over. He said he shouted for help and neighbours responded quickly, but could not save their belongings.

A neighbour, Tendani Muthari, said she heard noises and the breaking of glass around 15:00 on Sunday. “I was relaxing in my room when I heard noises coming from my neighbour’s house. I rushed there and found that there was smoke and the house was on fire,” she said. “We tried to extinguish the fire while at the same time trying to call police and firefighters, but the fire was very fierce.”

She said people from the village gathered at the homestead but could do nothing as the fire had already burnt almost everything. When the fire fighters arrived at the scene, they doused the flames in minutes, while emergency services staff were attending to an injured owner of the house.

She said it seems the man took a long time to notice the fire and that could be the reason why it could not be contained in time. “Had the man shouted for help in time, we could have assisted and maybe we could have salvaged some of the belongings but we were late and almost everything in the house was burnt,” she said.

Muthari said it was sad that the family had to lose all their prized possessions in these trying economic times and with no one working in the family. It will very hard for them, as they had accumulated their things over many years and it will be very hard for them to buy the goods again. They will need community support.

During Mirror’s visit at the family homestead, an old electric stove with wires hanging out was found in the kitchen.