6 Samaritans given SCDF Community Lifesaver Award

Six members of the public were lauded for their help in two fire incidents in October last year.

They were presented the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Community Lifesaver Award by Colonel Goh Boon Han, who is commander of the 4th SCDF Division, yesterday at the division's headquarters.

SBS Transit bus driver Mohd Azim M. Rosley was on his usual route on bus service 99 at about 9.30pm on Oct 8 last year when he saw a motorbike engulfed in flames at the end of a bus bay in Jalan Boon Lay. Two men were using pails of water to douse the flames.

The 38-year-old, an SBS Transit bus driver for seven years, said: "They looked quite helpless."

Grabbing a fire extinguisher behind his seat, he rushed out of the bus and put out the flames in less than a minute.

Mr Azim said this was the first time he had helped to extinguish a fire in a real-life situation.

"I think a burning vehicle can cause an explosion and I am very concerned for the safety of the pedestrians, passengers and other road users," he added.

Once he put out the fire, he quickly returned to his bus.

Mr Azim remembered that one of the men had thanked him for his help, but he said: "I felt guilty about not asking whether the men were okay or acknowledging him because I did not want to keep my passengers waiting."

Separately, five people helped neighbours evacuate after a fire broke out on Oct 20 on the seventh storey of their block.

More than 60 residents were evacuated from Block 470 Choa Chua Kang Avenue 3.

Ms Cynthia Loh, 49, and her husband, Mr Vincent Lau, 52, were working from home when they saw thick smoke outside the window of their 13th-storey unit.

Ms Loh, a finance executive, said in Mandarin: "Initially, I thought someone was burning incense paper. But we are living on one of the upper floors, so the smoke shouldn't be that thick."

Ms Loh said her husband, an engineer, helped an elderly man living on their floor to evacuate, while she helped other neighbours.

Finance and administrative executive Linda Lim, 33, who lives on the eighth storey, said she was attending a virtual meeting when she heard someone shouting "Ah ma, Ah ma" outside her flat. Ah ma means grandmother or elderly woman in Hokkien.

She opened her door and found thick smoke rising from the unit below that of her elderly neighbour, who is in her 80s. She called the SCDF immediately.

When the woman did not respond to her neighbours' shouts, Ms Lim ran towards her flat. The choking smoke engulfing the corridor near the flat stopped her from going any farther.

Finally, the woman emerged from the flat with her son and daughter.

"I knocked on other doors as I went downstairs," added Ms Lim.

Two other residents, Mr Md Rusyaidi Abd Rashid, 25, and his sister, Ms Intan Sabrina Abd Rashid, 19, who were not at Tuesday's ceremony, had also helped in evacuating the residents.