Power lines and transformers to be checked after fatal Bangkok Chinatown fire

After a fire on Sunday in the crowded Sampeng market, in Chinatown, took the lives of 2 people, Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt asked the Metropolitan Electricity Authority to investigate the safety of almost 400 power transformers and power lines around Bangkok.

According to eyewitnesses, smoke was coming from the power transformer before the fire broke out through the surrounding shophouses, some of which sold paper and cardboard boxes.

An early assessment has been done by police, engineers, City Hall, the MEA, and Samphanthawong district officials. They estimate that the cost of damage is around 30 million baht.

Also, the scene showed no credible proof that the transformer caused the fire, but there is a chance that communications and electricity lines could have started the fire, according to the president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand, Thanes Weerasiri.

The MEA announced on Sunday that it would accept the responsibility. They said at the time that the fire was started by a transformer that has been in use for 20 years, however, it was supposed to undergo a safety inspection in 2021.

To stop further malfunctions, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration would speed up the re-installation of electricity cables underground in the area.

The BMA will be working with the MEA to conduct the inspections, and the MEA will also work with the police Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, and other institutions to solve the problem to try and prevent another fatal fire caused by faulty equipment or poor inspection schedules.

Full details about the fire HERE.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post