Police Lieutenant Colonel Aeksak Kwanwan, Inspector of Investigations at Karon Police Station, was notified of the fire around 1:40am this morning before alerting Karon Mayor Jadet Wicharasorn and emergency services.
Subsequently, three fire trucks and disaster relief officials rushed to the scene on the beach front road in the popular tourist resort. A further fire truck from nearby Mueang district was also engaged to lend support.
It took close to one hour for the firefighters to bring the blaze under control and it transpired that more than 20 shops at the plaza, typically seafood vendors and cothing stores, had been affected by the fire.
Authorities said a thorough investigation is under way in an attempt to determine the cause of the fire and also to confirm how many shops had been damaged to enable further assessment to be carried out for insurance purposes.
Initial estimates put the damage in the tens of millions of baht, officials said. They also confirmed that there were no injuries or casulaties as a result of the blaze.