Villagers save homes from fire

PHUKET TOWN: Villagers on the edge of Phuket Town last night successfully fought a fire that threatened their homes. At the height of the blaze, believed to have started when a garbage fire got out of hand, 10-meter-high flames towered above scrubland near Baan Kuku in Tambon Rassada, threatening a small hamlet of half a dozen homes. While firemen worked to get their pumps going, the residents of the hamlet ran a fire hose between the houses and tackled the fire, which by that time was less than 20 meters from the houses. Thanks to their efforts and the local topography, the fire moved on and soon afterwards burned itself out.