PHOTOS: Fire rips through Walking Street bar

[JayBird]

First, I'm glad it went off during the day.  I do not suspect it would have been as 'harmless' if it was happening during night time when busy (full of people to evacuate AND the streets would be too busy with people evacuating to get the fire trucks through in a timely manner).

 

Second, it's sad to see one of the non-girly places go.  One less option for those who are there looking for just good musical entertainment.

 

Third: Maybe I'll skip out on New Year's Eve in Pattaya when they do go all out with the power.. Happy Zone could turn into Fire Zone and then Dead Zone. 

[Pattaya46]

9 minutes ago, realenglish1 said:

It seems the power authority is responsible for the fire and should pay for damages

 

Here is the responsible... and I doubt it will pay

 

[jaywalker]

A few years back I was on Walking St. & hear/noticed a sound like somebody welding.

 

There was a power pole with wires that were arcing a big blue flame about 3 - 4 inches across.

 

This was far South end of WS, so I made my way up to the police table at the North end to tell the cops.

 

Young cop there spoke perfect English & told me not to worry about it, as it always does that.

[sanukjim]

7 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Good opportunity for some " hot girls ! " puns !!
On your marks!

Seriously though, I hope nobody was hurt or killed.

Do you see how small those "Thai Hoses " were. No wonder that Western men with larger equipment can "Put out The Fire" a lot better.

[Get Real]

Good that nobody was hurt, and that the owner or manager had time to get out.
 

It´s right! It´s sad! It was a good place! Let´s hope it´s coming back.

[Deli]

They have time till August to rebuild it.

Hurry up, guys !! I wanna sip my Singha and listen to the music again

[Bangkok Barry]

 

.'Fireman said they had the blaze under control in thirty minutes but there was considerable damage done to the property and its contents.'

 

No kidding!

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, Cuchulainn said:

Wonder if this building passed any fire inspections (if there is such a thing)

rhetorical question.. but I see where you're coming from..

[Xaos]

Here u go cables outside and in such busy place. Facepalm

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[striderman]

till last june 15th 2016 it was a gogo called casnovy that had been there 9 years.

it opened after a total demolish/rebuild at the start of sept 2016 as rock street by blue sky, a live music venue.

checking my photo archives the transformer in the street outside was not re-newed at that time and i have no idea how long it had been in use

Edited March 15, 2017 by striderman

[Xaos]

Heres cause

Squirrel did it

[oldgent]

what was inside that building to make it burn so fiercely it was like a gas station going up

kind of suspicious to me.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Do you see how small those "Thai Hoses " were. No wonder that Western men with larger equipment can "Put out The Fire" a lot better.

[Basil B]

11 hours ago, Cuchulainn said:

Wonder if this building passed any fire inspections (if there is such a thing)

If you knew the history of these buildings that were built illegally, one sure thing no one with an interest in safety ever inspected the plans or the construction, so I suppose they were never added to City Halls schedule of buildings to inspect.

 

Some of them have fire escapes at the back (if not chained and padlocked as I have witnessed myself), but I have never seen any Mae West's for none swimmers.

 

2 hours ago, oldgent said:

what was inside that building to make it burn so fiercely it was like a gas station going up

kind of suspicious to me.

Maybe one of the rare bars in Pattaya to have undiluted spirits, plenty of none fire retardant wood and furniture, rubbish dumped in every nook and cranny  ...and swept under every bench, etc, need I say anymore...

 

9 hours ago, NVass said:

I was in there last Saturday and the power went out. When the PEA turned up to fix it an hour later i watched them bypass the fuses on the pole outside by bolting the the wires together it was obviously a serious problem so mo surprise it went up in smoke a few days later!

Bypassing a fuse, well if a proper fire forensic examination is carried out the evidence will be very easy to spot.

[SteveB2]

The wiring on the beach side of Walking Street is a mess - I have been involved in trying to provide solutions for go-go bar owners in the past, sufferring from electrical problems as the 3-phase power feeds 'go up, down and brown out' quicker than their most popular dancer's panties - but the supply issues are, in truth, too much to cope with  unless you install massive and costly back up gen sets.

 

I have a video somewhere of the overhead HV lines sagging as they glowed red for 50 meters along the street. Business went on as normal. Some mumpty in flip flops shinnied up a bamboo ladder to throw some breakers in an attempt to cure, but to no avail.

 

Thus, I'd give those big overloaded transformers a wide birth if I was you - they can make quite a bang if they explode and remember... they're full of oil - some of the bigger ones may hold a few dozen gallons of transformer oil inside them - so if it ruptures, burning dripping hot oil runs out all over the place. An office fire extinguisher kept behind the bar ain't going to do much to an oil fire of that magnitude even if your name is Red Adair 

 

[Basil B]

Probably contain PCB's and I do not mean Printed Circuit Boards.

 

Very Toxic...

[Destiny1990]

Nice that now walkingstreet will offer some seaviews for the pedestrians.

[striderman]

went by tonight. all power to walking st back up and running.

rock st/blue sky shut with fire damage with seat of the blaze as far as i could see at the front/outside of the building which now has replaced concrete power poles and new transformer.

small thai shop between it and skyfall also shut/damaged.

skyfall gogo shut/damaged.

otherwise walking st business as usual

[lamyai3]

19 hours ago, Lammbock said:

This was not a aGoGo Bar. It was a live Music Rock bar kind of place. Very nice. But now it's gone.

Last year pretty sure it was Casnovy bar. 

[webfact]

Squirrel blamed for fire guts Pattaya club
By The Nation 

 

 

PATTAYA: -- A squirrel was blamed for transformer explosion which led to a fire broke out at an entertainment venue on Pattaya City’s Walking Street in Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district Wednesday morning.

 

No one was injured.

 

City mayor Pol Maj-General Anan Charoenchasri said the blaze started after a squirrel triggered an electrical problem.

 

Following the fire report at about 8am, Muang Pattaya Police Station investigation superintendent Colonel Chatchapil Pattarasiriporn contacted the Fire Department and five fire engines were dispatched. It took firefighters about 30 minutes to extinguish the blaze, which destroyed the inside of the Rock Street Pattaya club.

 

A cleaner told police she heard the transformer in front of the shop explode three times before the flames spread quickly in the business and she and fellow workers fled the building and alerted police.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30309215

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-16

[whatawonderfulday]

34 minutes ago, webfact said:

Squirrel blamed for fire guts Pattaya club
By The Nation 

 

 

PATTAYA: -- A squirrel was blamed for transformer explosion which led to a fire broke out at an entertainment venue on Pattaya City’s Walking Street in Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district Wednesday morning.

 

No one was injured.

 

City mayor Pol Maj-General Anan Charoenchasri said the blaze started after a squirrel triggered an electrical problem.

 

Following the fire report at about 8am, Muang Pattaya Police Station investigation superintendent Colonel Chatchapil Pattarasiriporn contacted the Fire Department and five fire engines were dispatched. It took firefighters about 30 minutes to extinguish the blaze, which destroyed the inside of the Rock Street Pattaya club.

 

A cleaner told police she heard the transformer in front of the shop explode three times before the flames spread quickly in the business and she and fellow workers fled the building and alerted police.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30309215

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-16

Must be "Secret Squirrel"  for those that can remember

[bartender100]

According to a certain poster on here (not seen recently) they were all going to be bulldozed anyway in January

[canuckamuck]

Squirrel fled the scene before officials arrived.

[GeorgeCross]

12 hours ago, Xaos said:

Heres cause

Squirrel did it

 

unfortunately as it was lunch time the squirrel couldn't be held for evidence

 

 

[Bangkok Barry]

And the squirrel absolves the authorities from any responsibility for the fire, and so no compensation to be paid. Clever. Anyone see where they REALLY found the squirrel? Sorry, but when it comes to money and/or accepting responsibility in Thailand it is easy to be cynical.

[gk10002000]

amazing it didn't spread further and do more damage

[craigt3365]

As you can see in the above photo, quite a few musicians lost everything.  They are devastated.  Not only did they lose their instruments, they've lost their jobs. 

[JayBird]

Please forgive me for this question, as I have little knowledge of buildings and electrical installations:

 

Is it normal that a squirrel should cause this type of damage or is this something that should be easily avoidable through proper installation procedures?

 

Thank you.

[balo]

RIP squirrel.

[Bill3173]

2 hours ago, JayBird said:

Please forgive me for this question, as I have little knowledge of buildings and electrical installations:

 

Is it normal that a squirrel should cause this type of damage or is this something that should be easily avoidable through proper installation procedures?

 

Thank you.

It is very unlikely a such small animal would cause such a fault. First off, squirrels would have trouble reaching from one phase to another, also they jump and do not step across. In my home country where I use to work, we would have trouble with possums causing faults, they can hang on with their tails whilst stepping across to a different phase. If they shorted across the HV they would likely be blown to bits and may blow the HV fuse at the transformer, or set off the ACR (circuit breaker) back at the Terminal / Distribution station. If they shorted across the LV, they may blow the LV fuse at the transformer if on the load side of the fuse. Normally they get burnt to a crisp without causing any real damage.

 

If, as Nvass mentioned in post 16, that they bypassed the fuse (a huge no no), this would indicate an intermittent fault or over loaded circuit. My guess (and it is a guess) is an overloaded circuit / transformer. This comes about because most of the infrastructure was put in place 20, 30 or even 40 years ago and not designed for todays requirements. Over the years with the increase in the number of A/C’s, sound systems, computers, TV’s etc etc. the transformers become overloaded and need upgrading. If not upgraded they can become extremely hot and faulty and you can see what happens.