Warehouse gutted in Phuket Town blaze

PHUKET: A warehouse blaze took Phuket firefighters about 30 minutes to extinguish early this morning.

Phuket City Police at 2:30am received a report of a fire on Wirat Hongyok Road, a few doors down from the Lotus Express shop.

By the time Phuket City and Wichit Municipality firefighters arrived, there was little they could do to save the warehouse, which had been filled with stored documents and other flammable materials.

Thanathip Kienphomart, owner of the adjacent Srisorndaeng Restaurant, said staff closed the restaurant at 2am and were preparing to leave for home when they noticed smoke coming from the warehouse, located behind the restaurant.

The restaurant rents the land from event organizing firm BIC Phuket, owner of the warehouse.

Restaurant staff tried to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers and did manage to pull some computer equipment from the structure before it was completely gutted.

Phuket City Police duty officer Ekkasit Pinkaew suspects an electrical short as the the cause of the fire.

That would need to be confirmed by officers from the Forensics Police office in Phuket Town, he said.

Tanet Kianpoteeramatr of BIC Phuket told the Gazette: “I still don’t know where the fire started because I was not there at that time. Police are still investigating to try to find the cause,” he said.

“The things kept inside the storage building were all used materials. It is where we kept documents and other items related to events that have already taken place. The building was insured. The insurance company representative came in this morning to photograph the damage,” he said.

Mr Tanet said he could not estimate the financial cost of the damage.

Additional reporting by Janpen Upatising.

— Yodsak Jarana