A two-story Chiang Mai house and three cars parked inside its gates burned to the ground this morning after the homeowner reportedly forgot to extinguish the fire in the clay pot she used for cooking after preparing food for her dogs.
Boonnak Thanhikorn, 72, who sustained injuries to her head, told police she was lounging inside her house when she suddenly noticed smoke, reported Sanook.
She quickly ran out of the house, along with her three dogs, but accidentally smacked her head on a pillar in a panic.
The flames spread unbelievably fast, she recalled.
It took five fire engines about an hour to extinguish the flames. By the time they were done, only the smoldering ruin of Boonnak’s 13-year-old house and properties remain.
One rescuer actually fainted from smoke inhalation while putting out the fire and was rushed to McCormick Hospital Chiangmai, where the doctor reportedly gave him oxygen.
Boonnak told officials that she was cooking food for her dogs with a clay fire pot the night before, but didn’t put out the fire when she was done, assuming it would simply die out on its own.
“I think it’s the leftover flames from my cooking that started [the fire],” she told Sanook in a broadcast interview, adding that she lives alone with her three canine “babies.”
After an examination of the wreckage, Pol. Capt. Pichet Bunsong, the officer on duty at Mae Ping police station, said he hadn’t written off the idea that a short circuit could have started the blaze as the house was a built a long time ago.
He said he plans to bring forensic scientists to the scene for a more thorough investigation.
According to local media outlet Ejan, the total damage for the incident is about THB3million (or about US$96,000)
