When a neighbor heard that a fire broke out in his block of Marsiling Crescent, the first instinct of former firefighter Muhammad Phildaus Aziz was to see if anyone needed help.
“I told my neighbors to take care of the kids. I ran from the 6th floor where I live to the 2nd floor where there was a fire,” said Firdaus, who has three children aged 3-6. Said. Year old.
“I was shocked when I realized that it was my friend’s apartment that was on fire.”
His wife was working when the fire broke out.
A security guard, 35, told The Straits Times on Friday (June 24) that when he reached the second floor, the corridors were filled with smoke and many residents were evacuated.
“At that time, I heard a cry from inside the burning apartment. I know my friend has two sons, so I wanted to kick the door and go to help them,” he said. ..
“I stepped into the house a little, but the smoke was too thick. I couldn’t see anything and started to have difficulty breathing.”
Firdaus, a firefighter from 2009 to 2015, decided to help the children and returned to the apartment to take a face mask and torchlight to make them look good in the smoke.
“Thankfully, when I returned to the burning apartment, the children were already rescued by police officers, so I evacuated immediately,” he said.
The Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post Thursday that it was warned that a fire broke out at Block 218 Marsiling Crescent around 10:40 pm Wednesday.
The SCDF said the fire was raging when the firefighters arrived, producing thick black smoke from the two-story unit.
Before the SCDF arrived, two police officers rescued two infants who were alone at home. They were conscious in the living room.
The children were taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital by two ambulances.
Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad told ST Thursday that the toddler had inhaled smoke but was in a stable condition.
As a precautionary measure, about 60 residents were evacuated from nearby units.
SCDF is investigating the cause of the fire.
The infant’s parents declined to comment when the ST approached. Their neighbors said they moved less than a year ago.
Ferdaus often talked about other neighbors who stood up trying to evacuate their friends’ children from their apartments, relieved that they were in a stable condition.
One of them was 26-year-old Sebastian Ng, who lives with his wife and children next to the unit where the fire broke out. He initially thought there was a problem with his air conditioning system when his apartment had a strong odor.
“I turned the air conditioner on and off for five minutes until I noticed that the apartment wasn’t smelling,” said a freelance salesman.
Then he saw thick, dark smoke in the hallway before hearing a small explosion.
He and his wife took two daughters, three and six years old.
But he returned upstairs after his wife said he had heard the crying of his neighbor’s children.
“In fact, I didn’t think much about myself. I thought I could at least escape if something happened,” Ng said when asked if he was scared.
“The most important thing for me was the kids. If the kids are safe, everything is fine,” he added.
A three-story resident who wanted to be known only as Madame Anaborani saw two children escorted by firefighters at a shelter near the void deck after evacuating with her husband. I said that.
A kindergarten teacher, 55, said, “I was sitting with only my diaper on. I was scared. The older boy had burns on his ears and blisters on his legs. The younger boy was very quiet. “”
“Knowing how afraid they were, I kept stroking their backs and comforting them. My heart is directed at them, and I hope they are okay now. . “
