Massive Fire Engulfs Coffee Cafe In Sukhumvit Soi 8 - Video!

[Steele404]

I got to leave for the airport in 10 minutes since the traffic was blocked and BTS service halted... long walk for my taxi...... please fill in details or whatever

this video was filmed at 9:00 pm LOCAL TIME Friday August 21 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwtKkE-kkA

part 2 will be later......

[Crossy]

That went well, I sincerely hope nobody was caught inside

[jfchandler]

Can't find the video on YouTube...

But...I live nearby....and came back home about 11 pm Friday..... Still had fire trucks working out around the street...mostly overhaul... Skytrain was running fine by that point.... Lots of people still milling around...

The coffee place there was also an internet cafe....with a second floor pretty much devoted to computers.... It looked like the Indian restaurant nextdoor toward the main road got damaged also...

[bartlett]

hmm i was there just a few weeks ago on a daily basis for my coffee.

sad sad sad. i hope all the staff , customers and residents in adjacent apartments were unharmed.

im a firefighter in the uk and have often considered a voluntary secondment in thailand-offered to me my someone in position to make such an offer, or so i believe.

my thai is ok ..not fluent but reasonable and i think it would be an interesting experience. anyone have any thoughts?

utterly different to the way we approach firefighting in western nations ( low skill set and poor equipment) but thats part of the attraction/challenge. great way to immerse myself and id imagine they get a fair amount of blazes.

id be interested in peoples opinions.

[dondraper]

now if only it would have spread to the rest of lower sukhumwit...

[bobbin]

now if only it would have spread to the rest of lower sukhumwit...

The only evidence of wit in your pathetic quip.

[geriatrickid]

hmm i was there just a few weeks ago on a daily basis for my coffee.

sad sad sad. i hope all the staff , customers and residents in adjacent apartments were unharmed.

im a firefighter in the uk and have often considered a voluntary secondment in thailand-offered to me my someone in position to make such an offer, or so i believe.

my thai is ok ..not fluent but reasonable and i think it would be an interesting experience. anyone have any thoughts?utterly different to the way we approach firefighting in western nations ( low skill set and poor equipment) but thats part of the attraction/challenge. great way to immerse myself and id imagine they get a fair amount of blazes.id be interested in peoples opinions.

I appreciate that you are a firefighter in the UK and that you may feel the "skill set" is low, but you are mistaken in respect to the Bangkok fire department's ability to control a conflaguration. The Bangkok FD has a knack for containing a fire and moving very quickly. I have seen 3 fires, 1 which was large. It may look sloppy, but they work fast and know what they are doing. Yes the equipment isn't state of the art, but the local crews make up for it with their ability to adapt to the conditions, courage and resourcefulness.

I could go into a small UK village and compare the skillset there against many a small rural town in the USA and call the UK FD backward. Does it mean that the UK FD really is backward because it doesn't have the latest in pumpers? Walk into a major Canadian or Australian city's fire hall on any day and you'll find expensive equipment sidelined because the local municipality hasn't put money into the budget for maintenance or to replace hoses that have worn out or airpacks that are long past their due date etc. Almost every FD in the west has seen deteriorating response times because of manpower shortages because the money isn't in the budget. The NYC fire department lost alot of brave people on 9/11 in part because the FD at the time didn't have a proper communication system and firefighters couldn't even be warned to evacuate the buildings. Similar problems are endemic in many major Canadian and US cities. If there was a mjor chemical or nuclear disaster in any western city, outside of the limited number of people in the special units, the FDs couldn't respond properly. The limited training and absence of equipment for most departments is a calculated financial risk. Does that mean it would be fair to point out they too have a limited skill set and primitive equipment?

The real fire issue in Thailand is the lack of a proper fire code and its enforcement. The fire department has to contend with unsprinklered buildings, blocked fire exits, no emergency lighting, no fire alarms, no smoke or heat detection requirements, no fire hoses and standing pipes, no siamese valves,not even basic fire extinguisher requirements. Throw in electrical wiring that is a recipe for disaster and FDs like Bangkok's perform a miracle at every fire.

If you had to put up with a local government and building owners/developers that didn't give a dam_n about fire safety, and an oblivious citizenry, you'd probably resign in frustration.

[dale8]

Hello, thank you for the video. I hope everyone got out and no one was hurt. Remember to renew your fire insurance.

[Tod Daniels]

Here are 5 grainy pix from my obsolete phone cam. They were taken well before the video of the O/P, as the fire was only on the first floor at this time.

It is pretty evident from the smoke pouring out that the fire started on the first floor of the coffee shop/internet café. They did kill the power to both sides of Soi 8 for a while, but later in the evening it was back on at most shops. In talking to the thais milling around, they said everyone got out, and no one was injured other than toxic smoke inhalation. Several thais were lying on the ground with black smoke around their noses, being fanned by people. Evidently they had been running into the fire to try to salvage things before it got out of hand. It certainly was some of the most noxious and acrid smoke I've ever had the misfortune of walking thru and/or breathing.

It was also a HUGE attraction for thais and tourists alike and I'm sure there's hundreds of videos and pix of the fire.

FWIW, once the fire department got there, after inching their way down Sukhumvit Road (an arduous and time consuming task), they quickly got it under control.

I agree with another poster that once the Thai Fire Department arrives at a blaze (especially in the inner city of Bangkok) they are quite adept at controlling and dousing these types of fires. The lynchpin in the equation is them being able to arrive in a timely manner. As everyone knows that can be difficult to do with the perpetual gridlock of Bangkok traffic.

[bartlett]

hmm i was there just a few weeks ago on a daily basis for my coffee.

sad sad sad. i hope all the staff , customers and residents in adjacent apartments were unharmed.

im a firefighter in the uk and have often considered a voluntary secondment in thailand-offered to me my someone in position to make such an offer, or so i believe.

my thai is ok ..not fluent but reasonable and i think it would be an interesting experience. anyone have any thoughts?utterly different to the way we approach firefighting in western nations ( low skill set and poor equipment) but thats part of the attraction/challenge. great way to immerse myself and id imagine they get a fair amount of blazes.id be interested in peoples opinions.

I appreciate that you are a firefighter in the UK and that you may feel the "skill set" is low, but you are mistaken in respect to the Bangkok fire department's ability to control a conflaguration. The Bangkok FD has a knack for containing a fire and moving very quickly. I have seen 3 fires, 1 which was large. It may look sloppy, but they work fast and know what they are doing. Yes the equipment isn't state of the art, but the local crews make up for it with their ability to adapt to the conditions, courage and resourcefulness.

I could go into a small UK village and compare the skillset there against many a small rural town in the USA and call the UK FD backward. Does it mean that the UK FD really is backward because it doesn't have the latest in pumpers? Walk into a major Canadian or Australian city's fire hall on any day and you'll find expensive equipment sidelined because the local municipality hasn't put money into the budget for maintenance or to replace hoses that have worn out or airpacks that are long past their due date etc. Almost every FD in the west has seen deteriorating response times because of manpower shortages because the money isn't in the budget. The NYC fire department lost alot of brave people on 9/11 in part because the FD at the time didn't have a proper communication system and firefighters couldn't even be warned to evacuate the buildings. Similar problems are endemic in many major Canadian and US cities. If there was a mjor chemical or nuclear disaster in any western city, outside of the limited number of people in the special units, the FDs couldn't respond properly. The limited training and absence of equipment for most departments is a calculated financial risk. Does that mean it would be fair to point out they too have a limited skill set and primitive equipment?

The real fire issue in Thailand is the lack of a proper fire code and its enforcement. The fire department has to contend with unsprinklered buildings, blocked fire exits, no emergency lighting, no fire alarms, no smoke or heat detection requirements, no fire hoses and standing pipes, no siamese valves,not even basic fire extinguisher requirements. Throw in electrical wiring that is a recipe for disaster and FDs like Bangkok's perform a miracle at every fire.

If you had to put up with a local government and building owners/developers that didn't give a dam_n about fire safety, and an oblivious citizenry, you'd probably resign in frustration.

with respect ..i never claimed that the bankok fire department was unable to deal effectivly with fires.

simply that they have a low skill set. i will stand buy that statement. lets not mistake skillset for shiney equipment.

in western countries the job attracts some very inteligent individuals. i have served with a ex barrister and ex doctor . many of my colleauges have good degrees. in thailand it is considered a low status job and not a lifetime career.

in the uk we spend 2 hours DAILY training to deal with different scenarios. from rope rescue, car crashes chemical incidents and other technical rescues. i know for a fact that does not happen in bkk and that the job is considered low skilled. from what i was told whilst looking around a certain bkk fire station they have no medical training or equipment for dealing with anything other than fires.

that would suggest to me they have a low skill set.

yes i agree they may be very effective at fighting fires and can use certain techniques to adapt and improvise with the limited equipment they have. i have a lot of respect for this "old school" method of firefighting. Exactly why i would like to go there and work alongside them. im sure they could pass on a lot of useful tricks of the trade.

im am sure the bkk firefighters are as cabable as any in the world at keeping their city safe .

and i have to disagree that the rural stations in the uk would be considered backwards. the usa has a dreadful record for firefighter safety so in no way at all can they be considered a great example. nice shiney trucks yes ..but well trained with water tight procedures - i dont think so . i would add that almost all rural stations in any country would be volunteer and therefore have lower skillsets because they dont have the time to train.

i have worked in a rural station and have also worked as crew commander in londons most active fire station and currently work in a very busy inner city station so i think im in a position to compare our resources with those that i have seen whilst visiting stations in the states.

there is not a significant difference.

the only difference would be the size of the vehicles. our streets are older and narrower , we need smaller trucks.

but i do genuinly appreciate your reply

[OxfordWill]

was anyone hurt?

[Maverell]

Pics of this fire at

http://bangkokunlimited.blogspot.com

No one hurt. Building totally gutted.

[Meridian007]

Bartlett: I think the idea of a volunteer fire brigade would be good if for no other reason that they could be used as a first response system (they could get in on smaller vehicles with more portable equipment) before the regular firefighters arrived, and as a lobby group to help institute preventative measures in BKK.

Prevention and response time are the two largest problems, and if you want to help by creating a volunteer service, I would say good for you!!

Good luck, I hope you are able to do it!!!

[jfchandler]

Both the spa and the Indian restaurant, located on either side of the burned out coffee shop-Internet cafe, appeared to be open for business last night...

[Maverell]

Bartlett - did you see the comments about the 'lay' response to this fire on the blog at the the link I posted a couple of posts before this one ?

[bartlett]

Bartlett: I think the idea of a volunteer fire brigade would be good if for no other reason that they could be used as a first response system (they could get in on smaller vehicles with more portable equipment) before the regular firefighters arrived, and as a lobby group to help institute preventative measures in BKK.

Prevention and response time are the two largest problems, and if you want to help by creating a volunteer service, I would say good for you!!

Good luck, I hope you are able to do it!!!

i dont have any intentions of setting up a voluntary brigade at all.

i think thats way out of range for someone like myself. i would simply be offering to work alongside the proffesionals at a bkk firestation as i believe we could both benefit from seeing how the other works. these type of exchanges are encouraged in many other countries and considered very benificial

i have been told that i would be expected to work in a tourist area therefore i guess my biggest asset is that im english speaking .

firefighting has advanced beyong all recognition is recent years , incident command and firefighting techniques in thailand appear to be catching up but these things to take time to cascade down.

believe it or not the swedes are considered the word leaders

As far as i understand there is already some kind of auxillary service in place to provide a rapid intervention prior to the attendance of the professional firefighters.

in my opinion its unrealistic to expect volunteers in thailand to be able to deal effectivly with established struture fires. the simply wouldnt have the training or the knowledge, although they maybe of some use in dealing with small fires in the very early stages.

firefighting is a lot more involved and complex than simply squirting water into a opening from the street.

unfortunatly i think the corruption that prevents effective fire safety laws being adhered to and bkk traffic are way beyong my problem solving abilities !!!

i wonder how the thais ..firefighters and the public would respond to me working in such a role?

[bartlett]

Bartlett - did you see the comments about the 'lay' response to this fire on the blog at the the link I posted a couple of posts before this one ?

yes i did ..i guess those guys have recieved the most basic of training and are doing the best they can. they do it out of good will so im hesitant to knock them for their efforts