A fire this week that nearly claimed a 10-year-old trapped under a cloud of acrid smoke cast a light on the city’s Thai community - and showed how a tightly woven community could be summoned to action in a matter of minutes. When Hoontakul was alerted to the fire in the Allston three-decker, which he owns, he reached for his phone and called for help, rousing rescuers who saved the boy.
Hoontakul keeps his smart phone in his hand because rarely do five minutes pass without someone calling. Once, a man phoned asking how to manipulate his computer keyboard to get Thai language symbols. Others seek legal advice or help with housing. Sometimes, they just call.
Yesterday, Hoontakul had his hands full with his own problems. The city’s Inspectional Services Department paid him a visit to investigate the living arrangements inside his three-decker, where the 10-year-old lives with his mother, along with others.
A spokeswoman with the city agency said a citation will be issued against Hoontakul for operating an illegal rooming house, a characterization of the three-decker Hoontakul rejected. While more than one family lives there, he acknowledged, they are longtime friends who share expenses.
The citation does not include a monetary penalty but requires the owners to “apply for and secure a permit to determine the occupancy of the building,’’ according to Lisa Timberlake, the department’s spokeswoman.
“We live like a family,’’ said Hoontakul, a thick-set 42-year-old whose failing kidneys cause him to rely on dialysis three times a week. “This is not a rooming house,’’ he said, wiping sweat from his brow after sitting with city inspectors.
It is the custom of many established immigrants in the region, whether they are of Haitian, Brazilian, Chinese, or Cape Verdean descent, to open their homes to newly arrived relatives or acquaintances for extended periods.
Securing employment comes next. There are more than 300 Thai restaurants in New England, and Hoontakul estimates about 90 percent of the Thai population owns or works for those restaurants or has relatives who do.
