Firefighters from Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket) were called to the scene – between Darasamuth Phuket School and Surakul Stadium, on the same side of the road as the school – at 9:30am.
Firefighters took about 20 minutes to bring the blaze under control, but by then the building had been destroyed.
A man, about 35 years old, who identified himself as the owner of the motorbike repair shop, declined to comment.
Instead he stood silently watching the scene unfold with tears rolling down his face.
Chomchanok Sae-ngoa, who owns a general convenience shop nearby, told The Phuket News, “I was at the front of my shop when a customer inside my shop said they could smell smoke.
“I walked out of the shop to check where the smell come from, then I saw the smoke and flames,” she added.
Panya Kongphat, who works for Wichit Municipality, was changing a streetlamp light bulb across the road when the broke out.
“While I was working I saw smoke coming out of the shop, then I saw the flames, so I called my office to report the fire,” he said.
A Wichit Police officer at the scene declined to speculate on what may have caused the fire.
“I need the Forensic Police to work on this first, then we will know later,” was all the officer would say before walking away.
At this stage no estimate of the cost of the damage has been presented.
Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) workers were soon on the scene to repair damaged power cables that crossed the front of the motorbike repair shop.
“The fire damaged 50 metres of electricity supply cables and three power meters,” said PEA technician Permpong Tonsakul.
“It won’t take take too long, only 10 minutes, before power supply to the area will be back on again,” he added.
Additional reporting by Jirarat Rakjamroon