Does Your Country Have A Fire Service?

[radioman]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/556351/fire-truck-no-show

 

KANCHANABURI — A local resident was left homeless after a fire gutted her house late Friday night and fire trucks arrived nine hours after she called.

Saiyud Jampa-in, 47, broke into tears as she surveyed her home, now reduced to ash, in tambon Thasao on Saturday. She said the fire erupted at her house around 11.30pm on Friday. She immediately telephoned the Thasao tambon administration organisation and the nearby Sai Yok Noi tambon administration. However, she received no answer at either office. She and her neighbours then called the 199 hotline of the Muang Kanchanaburi fire department. The firefighter who answered told her that Sai Yok was not in the station's jurisdiction and he could not coordinate a response to the blaze. With no help available, her house burned to the ground within four hours.Fire trucks from the Thasao tambon administration organisation arrived at 8.30am on Saturday, she said. "It's too late to douse the fire. Nothing is left for me. My house, belongings, household items and my motorcycle were completely burned," said Mrs Saiyud. "If officials work like this, who can local residents turn to for help?"

 

 

Does your country have a functioning fire service? Does it offer similar response times? How do you feel as a foreigner (or resident) about the Thai fire fighting service? Do you worry about fire at your home? Do you take precautions to guard against fire where you stay in Thailand or elsewhere? Should Thailand become a hub for quality firefighting tourism?

[Flashermac]

Thailand doesn't have firemen. It has Fire Outputting Police.

[radioman]

Thailand doesn't have firemen. It has Fire Outputting Police.

 

Heh heh. Is that the transliteration?

[Coss]

Vientiane had a thriving wet market right in town. The one night the place burned to the ground, what firefighting efforts could be mustered, a couple of donated '70s ex Japanese trucks, could not get near the place for all the vendors trying to rescue stock and their vehicles.

 

The Chinese owner had construction grade exclusion fences up, around the entire perimeter by 7 am the next morning.

 

The vendors had been given notice to move ahead of new construction, but were reticent. The fire arrived some months before the deadline to move.

 

Or it was purely accidental.

[radioman]

Ah, so in this case the lack of a timely and capable response is part of a broader effort to ensure efficient business practice is maintained.

[Guest]

Firemen the world over are brave heroic individuals, Thailand's firemen are no exception and respond to fires as quickly as possible.

 

[passingthru69]

In the U.S. it depends on where you live.

The bigger cities have full time paid fire fighters.

In the more rural areas we have volunteer fire depts. So when you call in a fire, their alerts go off. Gotta leave their regular jobs, go to the fire station and leave from there. Time lost.

Then the kicker on some of those fire departments is, if you didn't sign up for their service they will sit and watch your house burn.

Has been reported several different times in the U.S.

[radioman]

I have a cousin who is a volunteer fire fighter in England. When the page goes off he's just gone. In the car, flashing light on the roof and he's off. No excuses and no maybe about it, he's just gone.

[passingthru69]

Same here in the States, I was just making a comment about time lost. That's all

[cavanami]

My little home town had a volunteer fire dept. I remember the fire truck racing out and as it rounded a corner one of the

local restaurant owners would grab on to the truck...very little lost time!