Knot Again: Bangkok ablaze with dazzling daytime cable fire

By Coconuts Bangkok

Oct 21, 2019 | 6:11pm Bangkok time

A cloud of smoke veiled Bangkok’s Bang Rak district this afternoon after another low-slung cabling mess caught on fire.

Traffic was congested after the cables in front of a police station burst into flames at about 1:30pm, according to photos posted by JS100 traffic radio. The police had blocked off the area around the sizzling spectacle, which was burning in at least three different separate areas.

The fire department was called to the scene. No further updates have been publicized and several calls to Yannawa Police went unanswered as of publication time.

It was just the latest dramatic cable fire to hit the city, where expensive efforts to underground the eyesores have stalled for years. Earlier this month, a breathtaking conflagration broke out by a Ramkhamhaeng Road footbridge.

No, please, really about those cables, Bangkok says following spectacular sidewalk blaze

Today’s public incineration came hours after electrical authority elder warned that cable fires are occurring more often – but she blamed the changing weather. Pasook Sampoonachoti said people should avoid using faulty or low-quality cables, outlets and wires.

Thanks Pasook. Maybe you tell that to the contractors and your agency’s own workers in the form of enforced regulations?

More usefully, she said households should check their outlets and electrical items to make sure they’re in good working condition.

While the government keeps kicking its deadline down the road for moving all cables underground, several years of work have hardly made a dent.

As of last year, 1,184 utility poles bad been removed from three major streets, including Wireless Road and large stretches of Sukhumvit Road. Earlier this year, a city-owned contractor said it would all be done by 2021.