Phuket Gov orders Super Cheap stores checked after second fire in 2 days

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Gov orders Super Cheap stores checked after second fire in 2 days
Eakkapop Thongtub

Firemen douse the remaining ember of the Super Cheap fire in Kokkloi.

PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong has ordered fire safety checks on all Super Cheap stores after a second store in the chain in two days went up in flames.

Fire fighters took around half an hour to extinguish the latest fire, in the company’s 24-hour store in Kokkloi in Phang Nga, just across the bridge from Phuket, at 9:30pm on Friday (April 10).

The blaze also destroyed a beauty salon next door. Staff fled after they heard explosions upstairs and saw smoke coming from the store room on the upper floor of the shop. No one was hurt.

Police hypothesised that the fire started after power blacked out the area and the store’s generator kicked in. An electrical short started a fire that leapt to boxes full of whisky bottles, which exploded, adding fuel to the flames.

Investigators are working to ascertain whether this hypothesis is correct. Total losses have not yet been estimated but are likely to be in the millions of baht.

Gov Nisit urged all departments to be prepared for fires after the Kokkloi blaze and in light of the car bomb at Central Festival on Koh Samui, also on Friday night.

“The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation must prepare enough fire trucks and water trucks because the weather is very hot during these days.”

He ordered all Super Cheap branch storage rooms to be checked, “because the Super Cheap convenience stores seem to have a lot of fires”.

Another Super Cheap store in Wichit was destroyed by fire early on Thursday morning (April 9).

Eighteen months ago the timber-and-tin main branch of Super Cheap burned to the ground in a massive inferno.

Before the two latest blazes, the company has already been accused of not being prepared for fires.

To add to Super Cheap’s woes, one of its delivery trucks flipped at 10pm last night (April 11) in heavy rain on Thepkrasattri Rd.

The driver, Ye Tun Aing, 35, from Myanmar, was not injured. He told police that he was driving the fully-laden to the airport when he lost control in heavy rain, hitting the central divider and flipping the truck over.

One lane of traffic was blocked until a crane could be brought in to right the truck so that it could be towed away.

Just as Super Cheap stores seem to have a habit of bursting into flames, so do the company’s trucks have a habit of falling over.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-gov-orders-super-cheap-stores-checked-after-second-fire-in-2-days-51860.php

-- Phuket News 2015-04-12

[LivinginKata]

“because the Super Cheap convenience stores seem to have a lot of fires”.

Maybe Super Cheap has very benevolent insurance policies. I seem to remember that big Super Cheap was insured by more that one company.

Also they are cluttered glory holes, just have a glance into any of the storage areas. And why do they all have the same god awful smell.

[stevenl]

because the Super Cheap convenience stores seem to have a lot of fires.

Maybe Super Cheap has very benevolent insurance policies. I seem to remember that big Super Cheap was insured by more that one company.

Also they are cluttered glory holes, just have a glance into any of the storage areas. And why do they all have the same god awful smell.

"I seem to remember that big Super Cheap was insured by more that one company."

Very common with big pay-out potential to avoid one company having to pay a lot. Re-insurance is another option. But the total pay-out will not be more than the damage as estimated by the loss adjusters.

[schlog]

“because the Super Cheap convenience stores seem to have a lot of fires”.

Maybe Super Cheap has very benevolent insurance policies. I seem to remember that big Super Cheap was insured by more that one company.

Also they are cluttered glory holes, just have a glance into any of the storage areas. And why do they all have the same god awful smell.

+1

I think this infernal sickening smell is from their "fresh" meat corner. Danger of instantly loss of consiousness in this corner of their shops!

[fiddlehead]

Super Cheap!
Amazing stores.
Aisles forever cluttered, quite dirty, long lines, slow staff, low quality generally.
But, the Thais love them.

I went in one a few weeks ago to get some ice cream.
Guess what? Same price as 7/11.

Where it's clean, friendly staff, if the Chinese bus is there, they open all cash registers.
It's all in the training IMO.

But why are the Thai's obsessed with the dirty supercheap's?

I assume they think it's cheaper, and it must be for some things I guess.
Just not what I went in for.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The driver, Ye Tun Aing, 35, from Myanmar, was not injured.

How's a guy from Myanmar working legally as a truck driver in Thailand?

[LivinginKata]

The driver, Ye Tun Aing, 35, from Myanmar, was not injured.

How's a guy from Myanmar working legally as a truck driver in Thailand?

No problem if company sponsors him. Just routine here in Phuket.

[DrDave]

Fire was possibly started by an enterprising employee preparing BBQ Rat for sale from the livestock in the stockroom, storeroom floor, and out front.