Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has said a request will be submitted to the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) for safety inspections of some 400 power lines and transformers in the capital after a fire on Sunday (26 June) killed two people in Sampeng market.
Chadchart said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will coordinate with the MEA on the inspections, while the MEA will collaborate with the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority and the police to determine the cause of the fire. He added that the BMA will expedite its underground cable operations as well as conduct random safety inspections of all buildings to prevent future fire incidents.
The Bangkok governor also urged the public to be vigilant for faulty transformers and cables and to notify emergency services immediately in the event of a fire.
According to district officials in Samphanthawong, one of the two victims was a foreign worker. The fire also damaged seven storefronts and three vehicles.
Thanes Weerasiri, president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT), said after a preliminary inspection of the damaged site that there was no solid evidence indicating that the transformer was responsible for starting the fire. He did not, however, rule out the possibility that the fire was caused by electrical and communication cables close to the transformer.
Officials estimated the initial cost of the damage in Sampheng to be approximately 30 million baht. They confirmed that the MEA would be liable if the fire was caused by the transformer, which had been in use for 20 years and undergone a safety inspection the previous year. (NNT)
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