10 houses burnt down in Tuol Sangker market

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=441Q16KaB_4

Fire destroys two houses in Phsar Kandal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQzESOqkR0&feature=player_embedded

Philly Family Chose to Fight Fire That Killed Two [Cambodian-American children]

Thu, 02/24/2011
BY ALLISON STEELE and JEFF GAMMAGE
The Philadelphia Inquirer

As a fast-moving fire spread through a crowded Olney rowhouse Tuesday, members of the family that lived there apparently never called 911 and tried to extinguish the blaze themselves, according to Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers.

"They discovered it, and they made the choice to fight it," Ayers said.

By noon, the flames had grown out of control, and passersby and neighbors called 911. By the time firefighters arrived, a 7- and 9-year-old boy were dead, and at least seven members of the household were injured, including four other children.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Ayers said. It was not clear why the residents of the home, who were Cambodian, did not call 911, but Ayers acknowledged there might be "cultural issues" at play, such as distrust of the government.

"This was an absolute tragedy," Ayers said, adding that the department will look at how it can reach out to non-English-speaking populations. "This shows there's clearly the need for more education in some of the communities in our city."

Aftermath of the Phnom Penh fireball

By Stephen Ford
Demotix

Mr. Phat and Ms Leakenha, who lives in the community, say that the community have been informed by government officials that they have two choices: Stay here and rebuild or relocate to a community area out of Phnom Penh.
...
It seems probable that few, if any, of the dwellers will be able to remain in this “prime” residential area in the long term.

A fireball started in a poor community in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, razed 257 houses and left 407 families homeless. The fire was ignited in the night on the 9th March 2010. The one attending fire engine was no match for the blaze and the community housing was totally destroyed. Phnom Penh, 13/03/2010.

Nighttime on Tuesday 9th March 2010. A firebomb ignited on the western side of a Phnom Penh slum community gutted 257 homes. A total of 407 families living in the "104 and 105 community" were rendered homeless overnight. One solitary fire engine attended and saved the end house from total destruction. Charred stakes, memorial markers to the lost homes, penetrate through the foundation layer of stagnant detritus.

Children and adults sift the debris for treasure-metal cutlery or any surviving object.

Cash was burned with the infrastructure; these people do not trust the banks with their money, choosing to secrete the notes in under floor compartments in their homes.

Today saw some families started claiming their land plots on the effluent impregnated swamp, fashioning new homes before the rainy season arrives next month. Rebuilding what remains of their lives.

Mr. Sambat Phat coordinates the food aid distribution for the community, provided by the charity "Solidarity for the Urban Poor". 5 kg of rice and 2 boxes of noodles per family. Aid, 4 distributions today but he has “no idea” if more aid will follow tomorrow. Families cling onto their food lifeline under the cover of tarpaulin gazebos, unsure of what the future holds. Queues form outside the hastily erected toilet tents in the middle of the wasteland, access on rough planks so that one does not sink into the poisoned swamp. Most inhabitants stare in disbelief at the bubbling stillness which previously formed the under house sewage system.

What next?

Mr. Phat and Ms Leakenha, who lives in the community, say that the community have been informed by government officials that they have two choices: Stay here and rebuild or relocate to a community area out of Phnom Penh. Ms Leakhena lost everything in the fire, including all her University studies. "My family has no money to rebuild our home here". "We were away from the house when the fire started and only have the clothes we were in and our mobile phones".

Note Well. 104/5 community was constructed adjacent to the disused and dilapidated rail line and stock maintenance building. New Governmental legislation demands a minimum separation between housing and rail transport infrastructure, which will probably result in most of this land deemed as unlawful for housing development.

Approximately 407 families inhabited the houses, although officially only 150 were rented; house sharing is common and a necessity in such inherently poor communities.

It seems probable that few, if any, of the dwellers will be able to remain in this “prime” residential area in the long term.

According to a number of reliable local sources, the fire was started in the “room, which a “drug user” rented from his grandmother”. During the previous month it is alleged that he only intermittently inhabited the room when bringing personal effects to store. On the evening the fireball ignited, around the location of his room, a strong westerly wind ensured the near total destruction of the remaining housing stock in this close community. Remarkably, no one was killed or injured in the fire; the only person missing is the “drug addict” who has not been seen since in Phnom Penh.

Some support for the displaced people now has arrived and a water supply has been connected by a local NGO although as Ms Leakhena says “ we have no toilet and only have water today for a wash”. “It will be impossible to find work living in these conditions”; she was recently made redundant from her waitress role in a popular tourist café as the peak season has passed.

Here is a community desperate for support. The fireball stole their homes and probably the location on which they were built. Currently they have little protection from the sun or from the imminent flooding of the site in the rainy season. There are rumors that the Prime Minister will visit the site soon, let’s hope that he brings rapid and rigorous support and aid for these people with him.

Monk house where Hun Xen used to live burnt down to grown; Kep Chuktema ordered it to be rebuilt back

Fire engulfing a monk house at Wat Neakawoan Pagoda

10 March 2010
Koh Santepheap
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

KI-Media Note: Will Wat Neakawoan Pagoda be renamed Wat Neakawoan-Hun Xen next?

Phnom Penh – Monk house No. 10 located in Wat Neakawoan Pagoda which was recently burnt down to the ground was the place where Hun Xen used to live during his youth. Kep Chuktema, the Phnom Penh city governor, has provided aid to rebuild it back and to make it look the same way it used to be for conservation and to show off Hun Xen’s struggle to the public. The location will show that Hun Xen was indeed the son of a farmer who struggled to study in a pagoda in Phnom Penh.

On 08 March 2010, at about 6:50PM, a fire took place in groups 104 and 105 in Village 22, Boeung Kak 2 commune, Tuol Kok district (Wat Neakawoan Pagoda area). During the blaze, 178 houses were destroyed as well as 10 monk houses, and the monk house where Hun Xen used to live was burnt down to the ground. This monk house was where Hun Xen lived in his youth when he came to study in Phnom Penh.

In the morning of 10 March, during the distribution of gifts to the fire victims, Kep Chuktema went to visit the fire location, and he ordered Seng Ratanak, the Tuol Kok district governor, to rebuild monk house No. 10 because it was a place where Hun Xen used to live, furthermore, this monk house must be rebuilt to look the same way it used to be so that it can be preserved [for posterity].

200 Families Homeless After Phnom Penh Fire

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 March 2010

More than 200 families lost their homes to a fire Monday night in Phnom Penh, with many forced to stay on the grounds of a pagoda nearby.

The fire began at 6:30 pm Monday evening and was extinguished by 10 pm, Phnom Penh officials said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but residents say it started in one house where a grandson had been fighting with his grandmother, knocking over a kerosene lantern.

No one was killed in the blaze, which brought in 26 fire trucks and destroyed 158 houses and eight units of monk housing from Wat Neak Kavorn, in Tuol Kork district.

Some of the homeless from 217 families were staying under trees and amid the stupas of Wat Neak Kavorn, calling for emergency food, shelter and medical care.

“I lost everything. It caused about more than $300 [in damage], including my house and my assets in the house,” Phat Yeour, 35, as he carried a woven mat through the pagoda. “I need the Cambodian government to help me get my life back.”

Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chutema said the muncipalitiy had not yet decided how to compensate the victims but had already provided some emergency provisions.

Fire at Boeung Kak Lake - A video/slideshow by Nicolas Axelrod

Fire at Boeung Kak Lake from Nicolas Axelrod on Vimeo.

The fire which started at approximately 6pm on Monday night, 08th March, 2010, in Villages Samaki 105 and Village 104 near Phnom Penh’s Boeung kak lake destroyed 158 homes as well as eight houses which accommodated monks in the compound of the near by Neak Von pagoda. No victims have been reported.

KI-Media Note: We would like to thank Mr. Axelrod for sharing this video with us, for additional videos about Cambodia, please visit:

http://nicolasaxelrod.wordpress.com/

Blaze destroyed homes and monks’ housings in Wat Neakawoan Pagoda

A fire blaze burning down a monks' housing in Wat Neakawoan Pagoda (Photo: Uy Sophea, RFA)

09 March 2010
By Om Oddom
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Residents living near Wat Neakawoan Pagoda, located in Boeung Kak 2 commune, Tuol Kok district, Phnom Penh city, were victimized by a major blaze that destroyed their homes and belongings. The blaze also destroyed a number of housings for monks in Wat Neakawoan Pagoda as well.

RFA reporter Om Oddom who traveled to the blaze location last night (on Monday 08 March) has filed a detailed report on the incident below:

Om Oddom: A blaze took place in Boeung Kak 2 commune, Tuol Kok district, Phnom Penh city. According to residents who live in the blaze area, the fire started at about 6PM.

Based on preliminary estimates by group leaders in Boeung Kak 2 commune, more than 200 homes are currently destroyed by the fire which leaped from one house to another. The majority of homes that were burnt were wooden homes and the majority of the residents are poor people scavenging recycled materials or selling boiled corns or salted clams.

According to one of the residents living in the house where the fire started, the fire may have started from carelessness in the kitchen. However, he did not dare make any presumption. The fire also burnt down 10 monks’ housings in Wat Neakawoan Pagoda.

I did not meet with the authority because they were busy putting out the fire. Right now, residents whose houses were burnt down, some are crying, some are trying to salvage their belongings. Some can only stand and watch their houses burnt down to the ground because they were not able to take anything out. In some of the houses, all that remain were the concrete poles.

Residents and observers of the situation indicated that, based on a preliminary assessment, there was no life lost accounted for yet.

Blaze at Kampong Thom market destroys about 160 kiosks

Tuesday 02 March 2010
By Kher Sonang
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

A group of vendors from Stung Sen Market in Stung Sen city, Kampong Thom province, told RFA at 1AM on Tuesday that the Stung Sen Market suffered an intense blaze which burnt down their merchandise stored in about 160 kiosks.

The exact cause of the blaze is not known yet.

Hok Rin, the governor of Stung Sen city said that a work group gave an initial prognostic on this blaze and indicated that the fire started from an electrical short circuit from faulty wire connection.

Hok Rin said: “I ordered a tally of the cost of the merchandises lost, we are still in the process of counting and we don’t know it yet because the victims reported that they are concerned about the loss of their belongings, [therefore] we can’t do anything yet. We are making our preliminary assessment and we will conduct additional investigations. The main suspect is the short circuit because the electrical wire connections inside the market did not follow the technical procedure.”

Mrs. Heng Ly, a clothe vendor, said that her kiosk was burnt down to the ground and there is nothing left. The victims called on the city and provincial authorities, in particular the market security and the tax collectors to help pay some of the indemnification to the vendors.

Mrs Heng Ly said: “My kiosk was burnt down, not even a single shred is left, because [my kiosk] was so close to the blaze, I cannot take anything out on time. I heard about it after 2AM, when I got there, I couldn’t get in, I saw the intense fire burning down the kiosks. I ask them to help out, at least they should help pay half of the merchandises, then I can get $5,000 back. We pay for the [security] guards every month, and we pay tax every day regardless of whether we make business or not. It’s unacceptable that we pay each month [the security fee], what kind of [security] guarding is this? Why is it burning by itself like this?”

Hok Rin said that the Stung Sen Market is managed by the Stung Sen city following the end of the Chan Doeun management contract one month ago. The vendors indicated that they are looking inside the debris to see if they can salvage any merchandise from the fire, and they are also fixing their kiosks so they can restart their business again.

Help for Seattle family who lost everything in fire

February 6, 2010
By TONYA MOSLEY
KING 5 News (Seattle, Washington, USA)

SEATTLE - The leader of the Sahak Khemararam Buddhist Temple chants, the monks eat, and the members collect money, as Sean Phoung weeps for his only son Prackserth.

"I think about him all the time every minute, every second," he said.

It's Buddhist tradition, the food is eaten so that Prackserth (also known as Patrick) may be full on his journey to the next life. The clothing will give him warmth and the money will be burned, so that Prackserth may prosper.

So many sacrifices for their beloved son, as the Phoung family is left here with almost nothing.

"When I heard that they found my son in there I was so shocked. I lost my life," said his mother Sody.

Eight members of the Phoung family now sleep on the floor of the temple, relying on their friends for food and donated clothing. Their house was destroyed in a fire on Monday, Prackserth's body was discovered inside.

But Sean assures his family that they will endure. Thirty years ago he survived the killing fields of Cambodia and he says they will surely survive this. Tonight they're starting over and looking forward to seeing Prackserth again, in the next life.

Fire officials say they don't expect to know the cause of the fire until next week.

Contact the Cambodia Women's Health Organization for more information on how to help the family. Contact Klaudia Snguon at 206-372-0752 koltida@yahoo.com

Cambodian-American teen perished in house fire in Seattle

(Photo: MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES)
Seattle firefighters battle a South Park neighborhood house fire late Monday. A teenager died, and six people escaped. (Photo: CLIFF DESPEAUX / THE SEATTLE TIMES)

Neighbor rescues all but one in fire

Tuesday, February 2, 2010
By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times staff reporter

A 17-year-old boy was killed in a fire that gutted the garage of a South Park home Monday night.

Even though Jackie Schwendeman helped six people escape a burning house in South Park on Monday night, she grieved the life she couldn't save.

The 17-year-old boy who lived across the street was the same age as her daughter, after all.

"I was able to get everybody out but one," she said Tuesday afternoon, tears sliding down her face as she peered out her window at the charred wreckage of her neighbors' garage in the 8800 block of Fifth Avenue South.

She moved outside and watched from her front porch as the boy's parents, accompanied by a monk in orange robes and a Seattle Fire Department chaplain, prayed beside a gurney holding the teen's remains, moments before it was loaded into a van.

Schwendeman offered up her own prayer, her eyes squeezed shut and her palms pressed together: "Just wrap your arms around them. Bring them some comfort and peace, I beg you." It was Schwendeman, 48, who saw smoke billowing from her neighbors' garage Monday night when she took her puppy outside for a walk. She ran back into her house, yelled for her daughter to call 911, and sprinted across the street.

By then, "it was really smokey," and flames were starting to climb up the side of the house, she said.

Schwendeman banged on the door but didn't wait for an answer before barging in, yelling that the garage was on fire. She picked up an elderly man — she said he was the teenager's 88-year-old grandfather — and carried him to a car outside.

"I went back in, and by this time the windows were busting out," Schwendeman said.

"Then there were three explosions from the garage. The fire was like that," she said, snapping her fingers. "It was that fast."

Six family members escaped safely. When the family couldn't find the 17-year-old, "we told the Fire Department someone was in the house. But they couldn't find anybody," Schwendeman said.

Schwendeman and other neighbors, thinking the teen had escaped, spent frantic minutes searching nearby streets, calling his name. Family members later gathered in Schwendeman's home, where Fire Department officials told them the teen's remains were found after firefighters had knocked down the flames.

"They were all crying. They called me a hero, and I'm not. I could've got him out if I'd have known," said Schwendeman, who was overcome with grief and guilt. "They lost their son, they lost everything. I want to help them and I don't know how."

As of Tuesday afternoon, the cause of the fire was "undetermined pending autopsy results," said Dana Vander Houwen, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Fire Department. The teenager, who was identified by neighbors, has not been officially identified by the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

The family was too grief-stricken to speak to reporters. But another neighbor, Chho Collins, said the family, originally from Cambodia, moved into the two-story house about 16 years ago.

"They're a happy family," Collins said. "They play music together, always laughing and joking."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654

Fire destroy 5 garment factory buildings in Phnom Penh

(Photo: Deum Ampil news)

PHNOM PENH, April 8 (Xinhua) -- A fire here Tuesday night destroyed at least half of one of the largest garment factories in Cambodia, national media on Wednesday quoted fire department and factory officials as saying.

By 08:30 pm (GMT 1330) on Tuesday, the fire had demolished five of nine buildings at the Suntex factory complex, said Chinese-language daily newspaper the Commercial News.

"We used all the fire trucks in Phnom Penh," Sok Vannara, first deputy fire chief of the municipal fire brigade, was quoted as saying.

The fire began in a product warehouse at the complex sometime after 05:00 pm and soon spread to the factory itself, he added.

The reason of the fire and the amount of loss were unclear yet.

Ocean Sky, a Singaporean firm, owns Suntex and the nearby Bright Sky factory. The two factories respectively have 5,000 and 4,000 workers.

Fire blaze in Tuol Sangker, Russey Keo commune

Fire blaze in Tuol Sangker village, Russey Keo commune on 02 Feb 2009 (Photo: Chulthea, Koh Santepheap)

25 houses burnt down in fire near Phnom Penh power station

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 25 wooden houses were burnt down on Monday amid a fire in Russey Keo district, about 50 meters away from the Phnom Penh Electricity Factory, but no casualty occurred.

The fire started at 02:15 p.m. (0715 GMT) and rapidly spread to dozens of houses, before the firefighters arrived, Soy Kosal, Toul Sangke commune chief, told reporters at the scene.

"The fire lasted around 30 minutes, but nobody is dead, and we can't estimate the damage yet," he said.

Most damaged houses were rented by garment factory workers and more investigation will be carried out, he said.

Temporarily, it seemed that electric or gas problem caused the accident, he added.

Witnesses told reporters that children burned firecrackers and threw them onto mattress, thus starting the fire.

The electricity factory, where power is generated by gasoline, is not affect by the fire.

30 houses went up in smoke in Phnom Penh [-Where is Bun Rany's Red Cross to the rescue?]

Scene of the incident (Photo: JM, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

02 Feb 2009
By N.S. and J.M.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

A violent fire took place on Monday at about 3PM, in Tuol Sanker commune, Russey Keo district. Although the fire caused major material damages, there was no victim from this incident.

A fire truck with blaring siren entered a narrow street, and it suddenly made a sharp turn to the left to reach a large courtyard. Police cordon prevented the onlookers from coming nearby. Suddenly, a distraught woman tried to cut across the crowd. Following a quick discussion with a police officer, she was allowed to cross the police cordon. Some dozen meters down, she witnessed in despair a scene of desolation: burnt tin iron roof, fallen walls, rubble… A thick smoke filled the air. Thirty houses, including the one which the woman used to live, went up in smoke following the fire. The fire started at about 3PM in Deum Khvet village. Firemen were on the spot about 15 minutes later, however, difficult road access hamper their work, and the fire trucks could not bring in enough water. A dozen of fire trucks were taking turn to put down the fire. It took 40 firefighters, 24 truckloads of water, and 1 hour and a half of work to put down the fire. “We couldn’t be efficient right away. We don’t have much room to move. The fire rages on, and our equipment was not suited either,” Dy Eav, the deputy fire chief, said with regret. Fortunately, an empty lot is located next to the fire, and acted as a barrier for the fire. Finally, the firemen were able to work close to the fire.

About thirty homes were destroyed, they were rented out to factory workers. There were no death and no serious injuries. Several people were nevertheless affected by smoke inhalation and were transported to the hospital in emergency. While the cause the fire remains unknown, Dy Eav suspects that it could be caused by human negligence: electrical short circuit or kitchen fire. Soy Kosal, the commune chief, explained that tents and cooking utensils will be distributed to the victims of the fire. He assured that the later will be housed on the same spot. Nevertheless, he did not provide any detail about any emergency relief. Those who lost all their belongings can only count on the solidarity of their neighbors or they have to find a place in a pagoda to stay temporarily.

Ung Sary can only cry as she lost everything. She lived in a small house with her husband and a sister. “The fire took everything. I couldn’t save anything, not even my $500 saving hidden inside a book.”

A few meters away, workers from an electrical company felt some relief, the fire did not reach their housing, otherwise, the situation would have been much worse.