No injuries were reported from the blaze.
Officers at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Patong office responded to a call at about 8am reporting that a fire had broken out at Refresh Massage on Thaweewong Rd.
Smoke was billowing from the building when firefighters arrived. Rescue teams entered the building, but found no persons trapped inside.
Firefighters took one hour to bring the situation under control.
Soon to arrive at the scene were Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup and Deputy Mayor Weerasak Khaminthong as well as Lt Col Saksan Khomsakhorn and Lt Col Jongserm Preecha of the Patong Police.
“Wannee Thapphra-in, who is the massage shop manager, told police that she woke up to find that there was a fire in the kitchen,” Lt Col Jongserm said
“She informed security guards of a hotel nearby. They tried to stop the fire with two fire extinguishers but were unsuccessful and the fire spread to other parts of the shop,” he added.
However, firefighters were on the scene quickly enough and adjoining buildings were only affected by the smoke, Col Jongserm said.
“We cannot estimate the cost of damage yet but we believe that it will be around many hundreds of thousands of baht,” Col Jongserm noted.
“The fire seems to have started from an electrical short as we found scorch marks on a plug in the kitchen. However, forensic police are still investigating the incident,” Col Jongserm added.