Unattended candles set Phuket house on fire

PHUKET: A Phuket homeowner issued a warning about leaving candles unattended after his house was set on fire today by candles left burning for a personal Chinese shrine.

No one was injured in the blaze. However, an estimated 100,000 baht of damage was done, Lt Col Sanit Nookong of the Thalang Police told the Phuket Gazette.

“My wife, children and I left our house to visit a dim sum shop early this morning; we lit the candles to honor the gods before leaving,” said Pissanu Chonsiri, 44.

“At about 7:50 we were alerted by our neighbors about the fire – they told us they saw smoke coming from the house.”

It took firefighters about 45 minutes to put out the blaze.

“We have learned our lesson, and would like to take this opportunity to warn others to be careful,” said Mr Pissanu.

Last month, unattended burning candles set an air conditioning sales and repair shop ablaze in Rassada, causing about 300,000 baht in damages (story here).

— Thawit Bilabdullar