Lantern blamed for burning Chiang Mai market, causing over 100 million baht damage

A fire broke out at nine buildings within Rim Ping Flower Market in the northern province of Chiang Mai at 3am yesterday, November 28. A witness claimed the blaze was triggered when a lantern from the Loy Krathong and Yi Peng Lantern Festival fell onto the buildings.

Ten firefighting trucks swiftly rushed to the market on Praisanee Road in the Chang Moi sub-district of Chiang Mai at about 3am to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters spent more than two hours controlling the fire and continued to spray water on the blaze to prevent it from spreading to other parts of the market.

According to initial investigations, approximately 1,400 square metres were affected, including nine buildings in the market and some parts of nearby buildings. These include residential buildings, a Chinese shrine and the Thailand Post Museum.

Some vendors in the unaffected areas of the market went to their shops at 5am to move all their products out of the market for safety. Officials later cordoned off the area for safety reasons and remained on the scene to monitor the situation.

One of the building owners, Bordindate Tuancharoen, told ThaiRath that his wife was sleeping alone in the shop when neighbours knocked on the door at around 2am to inform her of the fire. She rushed out of the building in time as the fire spread very quickly. Bordindate said he had stored more than 10 million baht worth of products in the building and lost it all. He still did not know what to do next because he did not have fire insurance.

Another vendor who owned the buildings said she had spoken to a witness who saw a lantern fall over the buildings before the fire. She thought this would happen because she also saw many people dropping lanterns near the site, which was forbidden.

Governor insists no lantern floating

The mayor of Nakhon Chiang Mai Municipality, Autsanee Buranupakorn, visited the site yesterday with officials to assess the damage and determine the cause of the fire.

Autsanee reported that each of the buildings was over 100 years old and a valuable part of the province’s heritage. Excluding the value of the buildings, the damage to the victims’ properties was over 100 million baht.

Chiang Mai Provincial Governor Nirat Pongsitthaworn also visited the scene to offer words of encouragement to the victims and the firefighters at the scene.

Nirat stressed that lantern floating is banned in Mueang Chiang Mai district and that authorities are sent to each event to control and warn visitors. Nirat said it was not clear whether the fire was caused by a lantern. Further investigations would be carried out to determine the cause.