Customer testing a lighter triggers devastating fire in Thai supermarket

A shocking escape unfolded as a customer testing a lighter ignited a fire at a shop at the mouth of Lat Phrao-Wang Hin Soi 22. The entire store was engulfed in flames. Authorities were alerted to the fire at a supermarket today at 9am, Thai time.

Assistant Inspector Chatri Khaosaat, Deputy Detective (Investigator) of Chok Chai Police Station, along with fire and rescue officials from Lat Phrao and two water trucks, as well as volunteers from the Po Tek Tung Foundation, rushed to the scene.

The incident occurred in a two-storey concrete building, which operated as a supermarket. The fire first broke out on the ground floor before spreading upwards. After a strenuous 30-minute firefighting operation, the flames were extinguished. The fire completely destroyed the building. A female sales employee suffered from smoke inhalation and burns on her arms and legs and was taken to Rajavithi Hospital. The cause and damage value are under investigation, reported KhaoSod.

Preliminary investigations revealed that before the incident, a customer was shopping in the store when a man picked up a lighter and ignited it, causing the flames to catch a ribbon decoration in the shop, resulting in a rapidly spreading fire. The man in question fled the scene, and the police are currently tracking him down.

A customer stated that everything was normal when she first entered the shop.

“Within three minutes, a fire broke out near the entrance and exit of the shop. The flames were burning the ribbon decoration in the shop, which was an excellent insulator, causing the fire to spread rapidly.

“It was not caused by an electrical short circuit. I also saw a man trying to put out the fire on the burning ribbon before he disappeared.”

In related news, police arrested a Thai man who set fire to two cars in Pluak Daeng district in the eastern province of Rayong. The suspect said he burned the cars to relieve stress. to read more click HERE