Bangkok Governor Orders Crackdown On Fire Traps

[george]

Bangkok Governor orders crackdown on city fire traps

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayothin has ordered a mass campaign to enforce fire safety regulations in the aftermath of a blaze and building collapse that has claimed the life of at least one volunteer firefighter.

Four other firefighters and volunteers are missing, feared dead.

The downtown Bangkok building, which caught fire and collapsed yesterday, had allegedly been converted illegally from a residential unit into a warehouse.

Governor Apirak has given 50 district chiefs a month to inspect and identify all those buildings with inadequate fire-safety features.

The campaign is to focus on around 2,000 buildings in the capital’s Central Business District. There is said to be particular concern about the many buildings in Pathumwan District that have been turned, in many cases without permission, into cramming schools.

Mr. Apirak said district chiefs had been given a month to complete their inspections, and would be held accountable if no action was taken against offenders.

Buildings found to have inadequate fire safety features would be given a week to comply the regulations. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration would close any building that failed to meet the required standards.

Statistics show the January-April period is the peak season for fire incidents.

--TNA 2005-01-10

[Digger]

What about nightlife venues? I can think of a couple of places in BKK that are death traps in the event of fires and in Pattaya, Lucifers should be closed down for lack of fire exits. In fact the authorities are already aware of this one but seem content that 500 people can crowd into one large room with the only exit being 20 meter long corridor and about 1.5m wide and I for one would never step foot in there again for that very reason. When the police raided it couple months back it was chaos and that was without a fire or smoke causing people to panic. Imagine a fire somewhere in the entrance to the the corridor and you have a disaster waiting to happen. I sincerely hope it never happens but am not holding my breath.

Edited January 11, 2005 by Digger

[chingy_]

its nice for Governor Apirak Kosayothin to thought about it, and take certain messure, but it will never happen, rules are made to be reinforce, no reinforce there are no rules, 8 out of 10 house, building etc...are screw in some way, unless you tear down Bangkok and rebuilt all over again.

[Sphere]

its nice for Governor Apirak Kosayothin to thought about it, and take certain messure, but it will never happen, rules are made to be reinforce, no reinforce there are no rules, 8 out of 10 house, building etc...are screw in some way, unless you tear down Bangkok and rebuilt all over again.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey, but we wont let reality get in the way of a good old crackdown, would we?

[astral]

I typical knee jerk reaction.

[Golf]

It's a Thai way, guys! They (government officers) almost alway said that after every big incident. It's all craps. When I was 10, I did believe it. Not any more. "Oh, we need to crack down all those illegal buildings.", it's just a tactic to calm people down. In three months, everything will be back as this tragic event never happened before.

I still remember when I was 12. The building just stood next to my father shop was on fire. It was 11:00 pm. and the fire was so strong. We (my Mom, Dad, 4 sisters, 2 brothers and I) ran down to the street and looked at the event. We wished our shop wouldn't be next. My father ran to one of the firefighters who was holding the water hose and asked him to spray our building too so it wouldn't burn. Do you know what his said to my father? He said, "we do not have enough water in the truck to cover your building." my father asked him back, "but our building will be on fire too if you do nothing." He smiled, "3000 baht, and I will water your building." I couldn't believe what I heard and I still remember it until today.

25 years later, Bangkok governor, Apirak, confirms that it's still the same. He confirms that, in this latest incident, there was "some" firefighters as for a money from nearby building owners who begged them to protect their buildings too. Ahhh...I felt like I travel back through time to when I stood still watching my father shop nearly caught on fire when my father had to pay his 3000 baht to the bastard.