Firefighting snafu leaves Phuket lumberyard in cinders

HOSED: By the time firefighters with water arrived, the damage was already done.

PHUKET: -- A lumberyard in Thalang sustained hundreds of thousands of baht in damages yesterday after firefighters from Thepkrasattri Municipality rushed to fight the blaze with an empty water tank.

Local residents reported a fire at Ta Wood Trading on Thepkrasattri northbound at about 2pm yesterday.

The fire was still small when the firefighters arrived, but after realizing their fire truck’s water tank was empty they were helpless to stop the flames from engulfing the godown.

Ten firetrucks from other parts of Phuket took three hours to eventually put out the flames.

The building was locked and there were no water sources nearby, so they called for help from the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office at Thepkrasattri Municipality.

When they arrived, firefighters realized with great dismay that the truck had not been filled with water.

They called for help from other local government offices, but could only watch as as flames quickly spread over piles of wood and other flammable construction materials.

At least an hour later, 10 fire trucks arrived from Cherng Talay, Koh Kaew and Srisoonthorn.

Shop owner Tueanjai Saratho said it was too early estimate the damage, but that it would run into hundreds of thousands of baht.

The cause of the fire is so far unknown as no-one is thought to have been in the warehouse when it started.

Police suspect a short circuit or arson, but are awaiting the results of an examination by a forensics team.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-05-10

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Now if that happened in my home country UK, the Fire Service(?) would be sued rightfully so, for negligence.

T I T !!

Absolutely amazing at how this kind of thing can be allowed to happen.

It's just like the terrible story of the fire at a Jomtien hotel a few years back. The fire brigade got the call, but they decided to send a guy on 2 wheels to verify that there was, in fact, a fire. By the time the spotter confirmed things, it was a roaring inferno and several people died.

^You beat me to it - TiT. So did they forget to fill it or did the water in it drain away through rust holes? More to the point, how is it possible that the driver does not not know the difference between the feel of driving an empty tanker as opposed to a full one? Eejits.