Bangkok needs over 1,000 new fire stations

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok’s fire fighting services are struggling to cope with ancient vehicles and only 43 fire stations, despite the fact that the capital needs 1,500, a leading city councillor warned today.

Mr. Suthichai Weerakulasuntorn, who heads the sub-committee which decides the capital’s budget for transport operations, said that the capital needed 300 additional fire engines, as fire fighters were currently having to use ancient vehicles which were almost unusable.

At the same time, fire fighters were working on low wages, without adequate compensation for the dangers which they incurred.

Mr. Suthichai also noted that plans to increase the number of fire stations in the capital from 43 to 78 would do little to boost Bangkok’s fire fighting capacity. Based on Bangkok’s population density, he said, the capital needed as many as 1,500 fire stations to be able to effectively fight fires.

His words come after a number of major fires in Bangkok slums earlier in the year, which left several thousand people homeless.

--TNA 2004-08-20

A thousand fire stations?

The man is crazy - unless there is a mis-translation. Maybe a thousand fire-alarm points. But even with the acute traffic problems in BKK, I would suggest that 75 stations, with 4-6 appliances (ladder truck, pump truck and the like) would be sufficient. As long as there is water available, other than on the trucks, there should be sufficient capacity if there are two or three stations per major district.