Woodlands resident hears ‘explosion’, neighbours rally to put out shoe rack fire before SCDF arrives
A fire at a Woodlands HDB block brought neighbours together on Sept 14, with residents helping to evacuate others and putting out the blaze before firefighters arrived.
Stomper Faith, who shared footage of the incident at Block 693B Woodlands Avenue 6, said: “Love the kampung spirit in the neighbourhood.”
She told Stomp she was relaxing in her living room at about 9.38pm when she suddenly heard loud booming sounds from the corridor.
Then came shouts of: “Fire! Fire!”
“I went out to check, saw the fire and alerted my husband,” she said.
Faith said the occupants of a nearby unit were still inside and preparing to sleep, so she immediately called the mother of two children living there and told the family to evacuate.
Meanwhile, her husband grabbed a fire extinguisher from their home and attempted to tackle the blaze.
However, the Stomper said the extinguisher ran out before the fire was completely put out.
Other residents soon joined in.
Faith said several boys, whom she believed had come from a nearby badminton court, helped find a hose reel.
“Thank you boys for getting the fire hose,” she wrote in a caption on the video.
‘Love the kampung spirit’
The footage shows residents moving through a corridor filled with thick smoke, with some covering their noses and mouths.
A red hose can later be seen stretched along the wet corridor as several people gather near the affected area.
“The smoke was really thick and breathing was really hard,” Faith said.
She also said residents helped evacuate their neighbours on the eighth floor.
Faith told Stomp that she made sure people moved away from the smoke and gathered at the lift landing.
She did not call the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) herself as another neighbour had already done so.
Despite the frightening situation, Faith was heartened by how people came together.
“Love the kampung spirit in the neighbourhood,” she wrote.
Residents extinguish fire before SCDF arrives
In response to queries from Stomp, SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at about 9.35pm.
The fire involved the contents of a shoe rack along the common corridor on the eighth floor.
“Members of the public extinguished the fire using hosereels prior to SCDF’s arrival,” an SCDF spokesperson said.
There were no reported injuries and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Police told Stomp said they received several calls for assistance at the block at about 9.35pm.
No injuries were reported and police investigations are ongoing.
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