MYSTERY FLAMES IN PASIR RIS
May 02, 2007
WITHIN minutes, three fires broke out along the corridors on
different floors of a block of flats at Pasir Ris.
And even before residents could put out the flames which damaged
clothes and other household items left outside the flats, a fourth
fire broke out at nearby block.
It all happened last Monday morning.
Mr Vasie Ramasamy, 44, was sleeping on the living room floor when
he saw smoke coming through his flat's front door.
Mr Vasie, who is unemployed, lives on the fourth floor of Block 189
Pasir Ris Street 12.
He lives there with his wife, two young children, his mother and an
uncle.
RUSHED OUT OF FLAT
Mr Vasie said: 'I looked through the peep hole of the front door
and saw a fire outside my flat. I quickly woke everyone up and
rushed out of the flat.'
More than 20 pairs of shoes went up in smoke when a shoe rack next
to the door caught fire.
The wall next to the flat's door was also charred.
Firefighters put out the fire after receiving an emergency call at
1.40am, an Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman
said.
The SCDF also put out fires that broke out on the second and third
floors of Block 189. The flames consumed clothes that were left to
dry in the common corridor areas.
At Block 190, MadamAzarina Zakaria, 39, was pouring buckets of
water outside her flat to put out a fire.
She lives in a four-room flat in Block 190 Pasir Ris Street 12 with
her 50-year-old husband and seven children who are between 2 and 20
years old.
Madam Azarina, a housewife, said: 'I was inside the flat when I
heard crackling sounds.
'I grabbed a pail of water which I placed outside to water my
plants to try and put out the flames.
'We used about five buckets before the fire was put out.'
A baby pram worth over $100 and a cane chair were destroyed. The
wall outside her house, as well as her living room window, were
damaged too.
'My whole family just ran out of the flat and stood outside as my
husband and I tried to put out the fire, which they eventually
did.'
The SCDF confirmed the incidents and is investigating.