A Fire in Khaosan Road

There was a fire in the Khao San area today. This was the second time I witnessed a fire since the one in Saigon three years ago. I was so worried because this was the backpackers' neighborhood and always crowded. Luckily, after 5 minutes, the local fire rescue team had come. They acted fast and tried to handle the flame. But it was not easy, the fire became stronger and higher from time to time. They had to call for another truck for more water. Finally, the incident was controlled. I waited more than 30 minutes to make sure that there was no injury (I didn't know why I do that). I asked the people around but no one knew. Then came an officer in a brown uniform, he seemed like the boss of other polices. He didn't speak proper English but loudly tell the people who were sticking around the scene: "Go your holiday" in a comfortable manner. He also took a photo with the three Western tourists who seemed to be worried about their safety and he pleased them very much by doing that. I asked him if there was any injury. He shook his head and told me "Go on holiday". And I walked out of the area.

On the other side of the burned house, there was a group of firefighters resting. The others were still spouting into the house to make sure there were no flammable objects left on the scene. This sitting group was like an Avengers team to me. They were the people who went inside the fire scene for rescue. Their clothes were all dirty and wet, messy hair but they didn't seem to care about all those. They were snacking chatting with each other, laughing, with their masks put on the side. There were two young female firefighters in the group and this was the first time I saw women doing such a dangerous job. I admired them.

From the neighborhood of the burned house, there was a girl, who was still wearing an apron, ran to the sitting group, dropped a basket with many lunch sets and food inside, then ran away, and joined her family. This family kept looking at the firefighters as if they were afraid the firefighters would deny the food they gave. The firefighters replied to them with a grateful attitude and then they shared the food with each other.

The firefighters walked out of the alley to the applause and "khob khun" of the people who lived in the neighborhood. They were so humble as if they were not heroes in real life.