FIre broke out in the Tiger Disco in Phuket's Patong beach area around 4:00 a.m. this morning. It is assumed that lightning struck a transformer causing the fire which the Fire Services took about an hour to get under control. The disco is popular with foreign tourists and it is thought the four dead are foreigners. Another 12 are in hospital.

 

Three and a half years have passed since the dreadful Santika Club blaze in Bangkok. That killed 67. The owner and another man are now in jail as a result. But both highlight the lack of safety standards - and the enforcement of standards - in many of Thailand's popular late night hang-outs.

 

Concerns have been expressed several times on this Board about the potential for disaster in Silom Soi 2 where DJ Station is located. If a fire broke out in any of the establishments on that soi, most patrons would flock to the front exits (I'm not even sure if there are any back exits). The pandemonium, with hundreds fleeing through a very narrow alley, would seemingly be bound to result in some falling and being trampled, perhaps to death. And that's before counting deaths inside the building from those unable to get through the narrow entrances in time.

 

http://www.bangkokpo...oreign-tourists

Very sad.

 

I don't often go to place like DJ for this reason. It would seem to me that any large place would have several exits.

I don't often go to place like DJ for this reason. It would seem to me that any large place would have several exits.

 

AND it is not just places like DJ to be concerned about. Think about emergency exitting the next time you on are the top floor of MBK (and any venue for that matter).

The first thing I do when I get to any hotel room is check the location of the nearest emergency exit, whether I turn left or right, and then the number of doors I must pass before I get there. I have stayed in many hundreds of hotels and, even though I have never encountered a fire, I try to make sure I can get out if one does happen.

The first thing I do when I get to any hotel room is check the location of the nearest emergency exit

 

I've never done this, but it seems like very good advice, particularly in countries where fire regulations & their implementation is likely to be lax.

In the UK, hotels tend to have prominent alarms & hideous fire doors part way down each corridor, so that makes me complacent. Unfortunately, I tend to adopt the same complacency in Thailand and it's neighbouring countries, where safety could be much more compromised.

The first thing I do when I get to any hotel room is check the location of the nearest emergency exit . . .

 

Good strategy, one I will remember. However, I might want to make sure I can actually exit thru the emergency exit. There was a fire in a hotel in Pattaya some years ago where the emergency exits were blocked to keep people from sneaking out without paying.