About 20 schools in Nyanza have lost property worth millions of shillings to fires in the past six months.

A spot check by The Standard revealed that a majority of the incidents were either due to electric faults, or arson by protesting students. It is only in one incident where the fire was caused by a thunderbolt.

The most recent incidence took place on the night of June 25 at Itierio Boys High School in Kisii County, where over 10 dormitories were burnt by protesting students. Trouble begun when the students were denied a chance to watch the ongoing Euro 2016 matches on Saturday night.

Last week, Kokuro Boys Secondary School in Migori County lost property worth Sh3.5 million after fire razed a dormitory that housed 68 students.

The school's Principal Philip Obat suspected that the inferno was caused by an electric fault since there was a blackout before the incident. The fire was later extinguished using fire engines from Sony Sugar Company.

On June 2, Kisii County became a casualty of twin fire incidents from two schools that led to over 200 students sleeping in the cold.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  KPLC to pay Sh500 million for Nakumatt fire tragedy
• 
  You have let us down, UDA tells Sakaja over rot at City Hall
• 
  Israel widens strikes, orders more evacuations in north of Gaza
• 
  UNRWA: 200 days into Israel-Hamas conflict, over 1m Gazans have lost homes

Fire gutted dormitories at Nyamanche and Mochongo secondary schools. At Nyamache, property worth Sh5 million went up in flames, and about 44 students were injured as they escaped through windows.

This was after they were woken up by security guards manning the institution. The injured were treated at Nyamache Level Four Hospital.

At Mochongo, however, no one was hurt, although 81 students were affected.

In May, a dormitory at Pala Secondary Secondary school was burnt in a mysterious fire. This was less than 24 hours after Nyabondo Boys Boarding Primary School also reported a fire.

Two weeks earlier, Kisumu County had experienced another fire incident at Dr Aloo Gumbi Secondary school where property of unknown value was destroyed. According to the deputy principal Pamela Omego, eight students sustained minor injuries and were taken to a local dispensary where they were treated and discharged.

"The students sustained injuries ranging from cuts, burns and suffocation while attempting to salvage their belongings, " she said.

Within the same month, 14 students were injured during a stampede following a fire outbreak in Nyawara Girls High School in Gem.

On May 8, A fire gutted a dormitory at Nyansabakwa Boys High School in Nyamira County. Faulty power connection was suspected to have been the cause. In April, fires razed dormitories in Mukuyu Secondary School in Migori and Ugenya Teachers' Training College.