Patong transformer short-out escalates into massive shop fire – VIDEO
PHOTOS & VIDEO: Phuket Traffic Office
People were hastily cleared from around Banana Walk and Patong’s Beach Road was closed off as emergency crews battled to bring a growing fire under control. What started as a simple electrical short in a roadside transformer, quickly escalated into an inferno engulfing nearby roadside shops and nearby buildings.
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Firefighters and emergency responders arrived at the scene of the growing fire just after 7:30pm.
A Patong Municipality firefighter explained to Phuket News… “We had to close Bangla Rd to allow two fire trucks to get through to access the fire.”
The incident happened at a busy time along the tourist strip, not far from Bangla Road, the epicentre of Phuket’s Songkran revelry.
Video and photos follow the quick escalation of the fire from a simple, but dramatic, sparking at the roadside transformer into a full fire which set alight nearby structures, then the buildings adjacent to them.
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Many roadside shops were destroyed in the incident, hopeful of some busy Songkran-eve trade but instead facing a long clean-up today in the wake of the fire.
No one was reported injured from the incident.
Songkran continues in full flight along the Beach Road and other parts of Patong today as police continue their investigations into the blaze.
