Fire breaks out in closed hotel’s storage room

Lt Col Patiwat Yodkwan of the Karon Police explained that police and firefighters were called to the Phuket Kata Resotel at around 8:45pm. 

Karon Municipality’s Fire Department Chief Theerapong Karndee explained that three fire trucks were dispatched to the hotel, where a storage room of the hotel’s Food & Beverage department was ablaze.

Firefighters took only about 10 minutes to extinguish the fire, he noted.

The alarm was first raised by Thanatkiat Ajarnyut, a shareholder of the hotel, who smelled smoke and asked a staffer staying at the resort to help search the hotel for the source, Mr Theerapong said

The staffer found the fire and called the fire department, he added.

Lt Col Patiwat said an initial examination of the scene led officers to believe that the fire was started by short circuit from the refrigerators in the room. 

The cost of the damage caused by the fire has yet to be assessed, while officers investigate to confirm the cause of the fire, Lt Col Patiwat said.