Blaze severely damages Phuket luxury villa

A massive blaze severely damaged a luxury villa in the Cherng Talay neighbourhood of Phuket‘s Thalang district on Saturday morning. Four fire trucks were deployed to the scene to find the fire rapidly spreading.

It took firefighters around two hours to fully put out the flames at the villa on Soi Pasak 1. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. However, several news outlets reported that damages are estimated to cost around 25 million baht.

At the time of the fire, the villa was being rented by a 48 year old French expat, although officials did not confirm who the villa’s owner was.

Police said they did not know what caused the fire, but a forensic investigation team would examine the site to try to uncover it.

Photos show much of the villa reduced to ashes, with firefighters desperately working to control the situation.

This news comes after a fire gutted a luxury villa in Pattaya just last week. The 20 million baht villa in the Nong Prue sub-district of Bang Lamung district was owned by a Canadian man.

The fire started on the ground floor and spread through the entire property, damaging every room, until only the carcass of the luxury villa remained, said Nong Prue Municipality firefighter Siriwat Prachit.

The 58 year old Canadian owner escaped from the flames unhurt. He had no time to save any of his belongings, running outside in nothing but his underwear.

The homeowner said he was shocked when he saw flames swiftly spreading through his house so he escaped and called the authorities straight away. He said he has no idea what caused the fire.

Firefighter Siriwat said the fire was Level 3 and was possibly caused by a short circuit, but the true cause was unknown.

The most common cause of household fires in Thailand is electrical malfunctions, followed by arson and cooking accidents, according to the Thai Fire and Rescue Department.