Fire broke out early morning of Dec. 12 at a furniture shop in Maret. Thirty-two-year-old Phongsak Arjtamna, caretaker of Sak Thong furniture shop, said he was asleep inside the shop when the fire broke out. Investigators had yet to determine the cause of the fire.

Police estimated the damage at Bt5 million. The fire destroyed many pieces of teakwood furniture on display.

At the time, Phongsak said, he was dreaming that a friend was trying to torch his foot. When he woke up, the place was ablaze.

Phongsak, who also works at the shop as a furniture painter, said he ran out of the building to call the police and ask neighbors for help. He tried putting out the fire with pails of water but the fire just spread quickly, he said.

Five fire trucks rushed to the scene. They put out the fire after one hour, just in time before it hit the next-door unit, a cooking gas dealership.

Police said Sak Thong is the island’s biggest furniture shop specializing on teakwood. It occupies one unit of a three-unit townhouse.

The caretaker said the shop’s owner, Mr. Anulom Chotithanawong, was in Chiang Mai at the time of the incident. --