20190412 Fire-hit mall gets all-clear to reopen
Thailand Apr 12 2019 “Complex bldg.”
Dead : dead 1 to 4 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Fire-hit mall gets all-clear to reopen
Updated: 2019–04–12
The CentralWorld shopping complex will resume operations today after officials and engineering experts confirmed its safety after a fatal fire on Wednesday.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) and Council of Engineers (CoE) jointly inspected the safety of the complex and gave the all-clear, allowing the operator to reopen the shopping complex and other facilities today.
Pathumwan district chief Phinit Arayasilpathorn confirmed the sprinklers and other fire-fighting systems worked normally during the fire and the structure has not been affected by the fire. Suriwat Chaichana, adviser to the EIT, said the structure of the building remains strong.
Fire broke out on the 8th floor of the 16-storey back-office and convention hall building attached to the back of the CentralWorld shopping complex on Wednesday, claiming the lives of two staff of the shopping complex and leaving about 16 injured.
The inspection concluded the blaze, in fact, occurred at the B2 underground basement, where water pumping and wastewater treatment facilities are located. The fire broke out in the wastewater treatment facility, sending a massive plume of smoke and heat up the viaduct to the 8th floor. The viaduct could not withstand the heat, said Theerayut Poomisak, deputy director of the BMA’s Fire & Rescue Department.
He said the authorities believe the fire might have occurred from the burning of dried sediment at the wastewater facility and the heat could have reached up to 800 degrees Celsius.
Central Pattana Plc, the operator of the shopping complex, said the alarm system did not sound simultaneously throughout the building because it was designed that way — to avoid panic if people try to evacuate in a hurry.
The company said that the Ratchaprasong complex in downtown Bangkok had many exits, and the fire alarm system was designed to go off only in affected zones. “If the system had sounded throughout the building simultaneously, unnecessary panic could have occurred during the evacuation,” it said.
When the fire broke out on Wednesday, the alarm system sounded on the eighth floor, the site of the blaze, and also on B2. Management immediately ordered the evacuation of people from the floor, CPN said.
CentralWorld issued the explanation after netizens raised doubts about the alarm system.
Thirayuth Chirathivat, chief executive of Centara Hotels & Resorts, said the Centara Grand@CentralWorld Hotel and its guests were not affected.
The dead were Chakchai Charoenlarp, 50, who died after falling from the building, and Arthit Khamsai, 50, who was badly injured and later pronounced dead at Chulalongkorn Hospital.
Colleagues praised Chakchai and Arthit for running back into the flames to extinguish the blaze.
Web Source: The Nation
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1660308/fire-hit-mall-gets-all-clear-to-reopen