Big Fire On Sukhumvit 22 Bangkok

[thaikahuna]

RT @191Thailand: Soi Charoensuk is a dead end road. Many narrow alleys in that area. Fire trucks cannot get close to the fire.

Well that's handy.

Let's hope everyone was able to get away in time, and perhaps all future buildings will be built where there is access by fire engines.

Don't hold your breath.....

[thaikahuna]

Do they have fire fighting equipped helicopters in Thailand? Seems like that would be the ticket.

Even f they do, a close plentiful water supply is not nearby. The pond at the park on Sukhumvit and the Queen Convention Center are inadequate.

[retell]

they could collect a much of those faulty extinguishers and bombard the fire with em a few explode an its out

[muttley]

Thida and the reds have already put out a statement deny responsibility ;-)

Well done virtualtraveller (and the inevitable "likees) the first valued poster to make a link to the red shirts. The gene pool just gets shallower every day.............

Edited April 6, 2013 by muttley

[wealth]

some short note from the other news site.

Fire is under control since 10am

10 shop-houses damaged

Very vague, but at least some more updates.

[Louisblackbird]

Is the fire still burning right now or is it extinguished ?

[whybother]

Do they have fire fighting equipped helicopters in Thailand? Seems like that would be the ticket.

Even f they do, a close plentiful water supply is not nearby. The pond at the park on Sukhumvit and the Queen Convention Center are inadequate.

The river isn't too far away.

[geriatrickid]

If the fire fighters can not get near, perhaps they should do what they do when fighting forest fires and try and extinguish the fire from the air?

No.

The number of structures and the heat currents make such an option impossible.

The Bangkok fire department does have fire trucks able to enter small sois. The problem is that the cars and vendors block the sois so trucks cannot enter.

This fire is not overly significant as the Bangkok fire department knows how to knock down and contain this type of conflaguration.

[jack1964]

May God bless, and Buddha bless everyone touched by this, everyone involved in this, and everyone effected by this. I am getting sick of seeing

hardship placed upon those that can least afford hardship to happen. I am not Thai, but my wife is, my family is, my son and daughter are, and

I for one see all of thailand as my family. I am sick of the hardship, I am sick of the pain, I am sick of the attitudes of the top 10% who dont give a damn. Look after your people mother Thailand, and they will look after you, but forget them, and they shall seperate, never giving mother Thailand a chance to reconciliate, or work as one. God bless you all.

[laislica]

If the fire fighters can not get near, perhaps they should do what they do when fighting forest fires and try and extinguish the fire from the air?

No.

The number of structures and the heat currents make such an option impossible.

The Bangkok fire department does have fire trucks able to enter small sois. The problem is that the cars and vendors block the sois so trucks cannot enter.

This fire is not overly significant as the Bangkok fire department knows how to knock down and contain this type of conflaguration.

Many years ago (in the 60's) I was working in Germany and they introduced a new law that in the event of a blockage on the autobahn, (mainly two lanes at the time), all vehicles must take the left most or right most position in their lanes to allow free movement of emergency vehicles between the two lanes.

This was well publicised in the media.

As was the date's of tests to see if it worked.

The authorities said that any damage done to a vehicle by emergency vehicles due to the driver not having moved over enough, would be down to the owner of the vehicle. That such damage would not be covered by insurance of any kind.

They took reinforced "Emergency Vehicles" and did the test.

Guess what? It worked!

Of course I realise that there is a huge difference in the mentality between the Europeans and the Thais but if Thai Authorities publicise existing obstruction laws and say that any damage is down to the owner, then target a few small Soi's with a reinforced vehicle, do this randomly across the country and the message will be learned because the offender will be hit in his/her own pocket.

The God of the Thai seems to be money - it seems easy to me to pass a law like this.

I wanted to make this comment on the post of a huge JCB (or similar) but the post seems to have been removed.

[Locationthailand]

Let the story come out. Guessing and using disparaging remarks when lives could be lost is in pretty poor taste. We all would hope loss of life is minimal if not zero.

[TackyToo]

I live in the Aueamornsuk Apts.right next to where the fire was burning. We had to leave the building as the flames in
the next house were already three stories high. Screaming and yelling over eight floors and people were headed down the stairs to the entrance. In these two Apt. Buildings construction is going on for more than a year. Hence the entrance is blocked with shiploads of plywood, gas and oxygen canisters. If there would be a fire at the entrance with wooden wall panels, no one could escape from the building as there is only one entrance. When I mentioned this to the owner, he was not impressed and shrug me off. The guy is filthy rich and probably thinks if half of my tenants die in a fire, I pay for the body bags.

This is what the burned down area looks now. Pics taken from my neighbors balcony where his plastic door already
started melting. The shophouses and wooden shacks are stone old and everybody was cooking on gas in there. I heard some canisters blow off. Oh, there is no direct access for any fire truck to the entire shophouse complex. They had to get their fireengines in front of Aueamornsuk (the white buildings in the other pics) and even there it took 5 to 10 Minutes to clear the road of hawkers and parked vehicles.

Edited April 6, 2013 by TackyToo

[aguy30]

I live in the Aueamornsuk Apts.right next to where the fire was burning. We had to leave the building as the flames in

the next house were already three stories high. Screaming and yelling over eight floors and people were headed down the stairs to the entrance. In these two Apt. Buildings construction is going on for more than a year. Hence the entrance is blocked with shiploads of plywood, gas and oxygen canisters. If there would be a fire at the entrance with wooden wall panels, no one could escape from the building as there is only one entrance. When I mentioned this to the owner, he was not impressed and shrug me off. The guy is filthy rich and probably thinks if half of my tenants die in a fire, I pay for the body bags.

Just curious why you think they were oxygen canisters? There for what purpose? Perhaps you are wrong about that.

That statement about the property owner is despicable. I guess it is acceptable if it was from an ignorant farang. Quite the neighborhood you live in. Average rent is what, 3000 baht/month?

BTW, your choice of the pig avatar is quite revealing.

Edited April 6, 2013 by metisdead
Large font resized to normal

[retell]

I live in the Aueamornsuk Apts.right next to where the fire was burning. We had to leave the building as the flames in

the next house were already three stories high. Screaming and yelling over eight floors and people were headed down the stairs to the entrance. In these two Apt. Buildings construction is going on for more than a year. Hence the entrance is blocked with shiploads of plywood, gas and oxygen canisters. If there would be a fire at the entrance with wooden wall panels, no one could escape from the building as there is only one entrance. When I mentioned this to the owner, he was not impressed and shrug me off. The guy is filthy rich and probably thinks if half of my tenants die in a fire, I pay for the body bags.

Just curious why you think they were oxygen canisters? There for what purpose? Perhaps you are wrong about that.

That statement about the property owner is despicable. I guess it is acceptable if it was from an ignorant farang. Quite the neighborhood you live in. Average rent is what, 3000 baht/month?

BTW, your choice of the pig avatar is quite revealing.

agree with aguy30 pretty lousy thing to say why did you still stay there if that was the case for so long allready

[Konini]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

[sjjmmi]

Is that a fireman sitting on an open air toilet in the second picture

Edited April 6, 2013 by sjjmmi

[TackyToo]

I live in the Aueamornsuk Apts.right next to where the fire was burning. We had to leave the building as the flames in

the next house were already three stories high. Screaming and yelling over eight floors and people were headed down the stairs to the entrance. In these two Apt. Buildings construction is going on for more than a year. Hence the entrance is blocked with shiploads of plywood, gas and oxygen canisters. If there would be a fire at the entrance with wooden wall panels, no one could escape from the building as there is only one entrance. When I mentioned this to the owner, he was not impressed and shrug me off. The guy is filthy rich and probably thinks if half of my tenants die in a fire, I pay for the body bags.

Just curious why you think they were oxygen canisters? There for what purpose? Perhaps you are wrong about that.

That statement about the property owner is despicable. I guess it is acceptable if it was from an ignorant farang. Quite the neighborhood you live in. Average rent is what, 3000 baht/month?

BTW, your choice of the pig avatar is quite revealing.

Yeah I got it. And arrogance just looks as such from below, right?

[Locationthailand]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

[jimbeam1]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

Oxygen & Acetylene are two totally separate gasses that are mixed for use in gas welding.

jb1

[retell]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

Oxygen & Acetylene are two totally separate gasses that are mixed for use in gas welding.

jb1

what colour canister are those then the orange ? oxygen is blue lpg grey or green

[Basil B]

No access for fire engines, blocked entrances to buildings with combustible materials.

Apart from the access issues, from what I have witnessed myself in Thailand is the ignorant and selfish attitude of Thai drivers in not giving way to emergency vehicles.

You can understand foreign countries issuing travel warnings about Thailand

[overherebc]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

Oxygen & Acetylene are two totally separate gasses that are mixed for use in gas welding.

jb1

what colour canister are those then the orange ? oxygen is blue lpg grey or green

Oxygen should be black if industrial and black with a white top if medical, acetylene is all over maroon.

[laislica]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

Oxygen & Acetylene are two totally separate gasses that are mixed for use in gas welding.

jb1

what colour canister are those then the orange ? oxygen is blue lpg grey or green

The oxygen is in one tank and the acetylene in another. The gasses are connected to a torch and combined there. Can be used to weld or burn.

[bri1guy]

Is this a appartment complex or private residence business or what on fire??

[OzMick]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

Ummmm..........no. Oxyacetelene refers to the mixture of the 2 gases used for welding/cutting. 2 storage cylinders are used, the tall black one being oxygen, the squat red/maroon being the acetylene, the same colour coding used for the twin hoses, the mixing being done at the burner hand unit where it can be varied to suit the application.

Oxy could also be American slang for a highly addictive prescription painkiller, but probably not as mentioned here.

sorry should have done an update before duplicating other posts.

Edited April 6, 2013 by OzMick

[lee b]

Hope eveyone close got away ok

[Commander Tamson]

May God bless, and Buddha bless everyone touched by this, everyone involved in this, and everyone effected by this. I am getting sick of seeing

hardship placed upon those that can least afford hardship to happen. I am not Thai, but my wife is, my family is, my son and daughter are, and

I for one see all of thailand as my family. I am sick of the hardship, I am sick of the pain, I am sick of the attitudes of the top 10% who dont give a damn. Look after your people mother Thailand, and they will look after you, but forget them, and they shall seperate, never giving mother Thailand a chance to reconciliate, or work as one. God bless you all.

Hey take a chill-pill Jack. Fires in densely populated areas happen in cities all across the World. This is not [or should I say not likely to be] a uniquely Thai thing.

[overherebc]

Don't want to get into a fight here, but my husband has previously talked about 'oxy' and oxygen tanks in a welding capacity. Not saying it's the same thing, but it sounds plausible to me. I have to say the rest of his post is fairly spot on, talking about blocked fire exits.

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

Ummmm..........no. Oxyacetelene refers to the mixture of the 2 gases used for welding/cutting. 2 storage cylinders are used, the tall black one being oxygen, the squat red/maroon being the acetylene, the same colour coding used for the twin hoses, the mixing being done at the burner hand unit where it can be varied to suit the application.

Oxy could also be American slang for a highly addictive prescription painkiller, but probably not as mentioned here.

sorry should have done an update before duplicating other posts.

One of the most dangerous things I see quite often is the acetylene cylinder lying on its side instead of standing and/or no flash arrester being used. So easy to get the flash back into the cylinder and cause a violent explosion.

[jimbeam1]

Oxy is oxyacetylene - not oxygen.

Oxygen & Acetylene are two totally separate gasses that are mixed for use in gas welding.

jb1

what colour canister are those then the orange ? oxygen is blue lpg grey or green

Oxygen should be black if industrial and black with a white top if medical, acetylene is all over maroon.

That is correct and the thread on the Oxygen bottle where the gauge fixes is right hand and on the Acetylene bottle it is left hand.

jb1

[Briggsy]

The usual Saturday morning insurance job prior to the announcement of a major redevelopment of prime city real estate.

TIT so predictable.