Malindi refuses to believe it. Two fires within twenty-four hours of each other, same dynamics, same place, same time.
Coincidence? Arson? And if the latter hypothesis is credible, why?
Conspiracy theorists, flat-earthers, and (Kenyan) clay pigeon shooters are running wild on social media, but there are also many residents and frequent visitors to Malindi and the Kenyan coast who are trying to understand, listen, give, and receive explanations.
Some British people living near the Coral Key area, where the fires occurred, have spoken in their forums about work carried out on both evenings by maintenance workers from Kenya Power & Lightning, the national electricity company. Others swear they saw suspicious people in the vicinity, but only on the first evening.

There are no witnesses to who may have started the fire, while the police immediately set to work to find any faults in the electrical circuits or elsewhere.
Those who did not move quickly, and this is nothing new, were the firefighters. They arrived after at least an hour and a half, according to most residents in the area, many of whom watched helplessly as their dream of living by the sea went up in smoke.
It cannot be said that for some of them it was not a tragedy waiting to happen, or at least one with a high probability of deadly consequences. These are the people who, after two fires in the same residential complexes, decided, for aesthetic reasons or perhaps to save money, to re-roof their houses with makuti, highly flammable dried palm leaves.
These are two reasons why the fire spread so easily: slow-moving firefighters and makuti roofs are truly an explosive combination. But clearly, we urgently need to know what caused these flames, if anyone is responsible, and the possible reasons.
We can only sympathize with those who have lost their dream homes, the retirees who come here to spend the winter, and the mixed couples who saw it as an excellent solution that would satisfy both of them for a peaceful (or stormy... but these are their problems, even if no less inflammatory) coexistence.

For example, Roberto Zanola, who tells us his story.
“For 25 years I had a house in Casuarina, then it was too big and I couldn't maintain it anymore. Eight months ago, I bought a small house in Park One, so that my children could see Africa for the first time next year.” I am divorced, that is their home.
I am an unusual Italian. I chose Kenya because I felt at home there and still do. I only go to African bars and restaurants, I eat with my hands, I do the ‘worst things’ with all my African friends, and sometimes I show them new places they've never been to... Let me get to the point. In my opinion, people (not me) sometimes complain about little things that residents are missing or about potholes in the roads. Forgive me, but how many more fires do we have to witness? Shall we talk about the fire department for once? I would beat them up. Someone has to take responsibility, but enough with the usual bullshit like “there was no water...” They were three minutes away from the scene of the accident, but they arrived hours later!  Meanwhile, all the locals were busy with buckets of water. Now I'm really bitter about the whole thing. I'll definitely be back at the end of the year. I'll stay at a local hotel that I love, where everyone knows me. I'll bring the usual flour for the children and set up the usual tables for them, but... I want something to change and clarity on the rumors that the firefighters know but are waiting. I just want clarity."