Sixteen girls are dead and dozens more injured after a fire tore through a dormitory at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil, Nakuru County, in the early hours of Thursday, May 28, 2026. The government has shut the school indefinitely, and Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has warned that anyone found responsible will face criminal charges.
BREAKING: Utumishi Girls Academy has been closed for investigations over the dormitory fire that left 16 student dead continue. Education CS Julius Ogamba says those responsible for the fire will be charged. pic.twitter.com/X1hol3V604
— Brygettes Ngana (@NBrygettes) May 28, 2026
The closure gives investigators room to establish what caused the blaze and determine whether there were safety lapses at the institution. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is leading the probe, with forensic officers already deployed to the scene.
What Happened
Flames tore through a dormitory at around 1:00 a.m. More than two hours after the fire erupted, emergency responders had yet to arrive, and when they did at 3:30 a.m., the damage was already catastrophic.
Ogamba confirmed the fire started in a second-floor dormitory, which was completely destroyed. The school had 815 students on its roll, with 808 present at the time of the fire. Of the 79 students injured, 71 received treatment and were discharged, while seven remain admitted in hospital.
The victims have not yet been formally identified. Gilgil MP Martha Wangari said the school, founded in 2020, has begun pairing students with parents to support identification, with DNA sampling underway for the deceased.
A Locked Door and Students Jumping to Escape
Witness accounts from parents at the scene point to a critical failure during the evacuation. A parent claimed that the dormitory, divided into upper and lower sections, had only one of its two emergency doors opened during the fire. The matron reportedly gave students a signal and left the building, leaving those in the upper section trapped. Students forced to escape from the upper level jumped to the ground, sustaining serious injuries.
The parent called on the government to ensure all school dormitories have at least two matrons on duty, arguing that a second matron could have opened the second emergency exit in time.
Government Response
Ogamba said the government will review compliance with the school safety manual as part of the investigation. He noted that schools are required to adhere to safety standards and emergency preparedness measures, and that the ministry has previously shut down schools found not meeting the required safety specifications.
“We are waiting for investigations to establish whether the school fully complied with the safety manual and whether any action needs to be taken thereafter,” Ogamba said, urging Kenyans to avoid speculation and allow investigators to complete their work.
Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen, DCI Director Mohammed Amin, the Director of the Homicide Department Martin Nyuguto, Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika, and the Parliamentary Committee on Education all arrived at the school by mid-morning for a briefing with senior officials.
President William Ruto said the government’s immediate focus is on rescue efforts, treatment of the injured, and support for affected families as investigations continue. “Our hearts and prayers are with the families who have lost their beloved daughters in the tragic fire at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil. No words can truly ease the pain of losing young lives filled with promise, hope, and dreams for the future,” he said.
A Pattern Kenya Cannot Keep Repeating
The Utumishi fire does not arrive in isolation. Ogamba recalled that after the Hillside Endarasha Academy fire, which claimed 21 lives, the ministry shut down hundreds of non-compliant institutions across the country. That was less than two years ago.
After Endarasha, Education CS Ogamba agreed to hold anyone found culpable accountable, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei ordered the immediate inspection of all school infrastructure, and the government promised to prosecute violators. Less than two years later, Utumishi Girls Academy caught fire.
Nairobi Women’s Representative Esther Passaris said the tragedy had again brought to the surface urgent concerns about school fire safety, emergency preparedness, dormitory standards, and mental health support in learning institutions. “No parent sends a child to school expecting such devastating news,” she said.
A 2024 report by the Usawa Agenda found that most boarding schools in Kenya are unsafe, with spacing between student beds falling below the required guidelines — a structural problem that repeated government audits have failed to fully resolve.
Utumishi Girls Academy is a government-owned institution managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service. Many of its students are daughters of police officers. That detail makes the failure of basic safety standards harder to ignore.
The DCI investigation remains ongoing. The cause of the fire has not yet been established.
