SINGAPORE - Six members of the public were lauded for their help in two fire incidents in October 2021.

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, on Tuesday (Jan 4) 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 motorcycle 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, who has been 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.

Recalling the incident, 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.

He used the firefighting skills he had picked up at a safety course held by SBS Transit.

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 do not want to keep my passengers waiting."

Four days later, his manager told him a video of his good deed was trending on social media platform TikTok. The video has since been removed.

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

The Straits Times had reported then that 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, has been living in the estate with her family for 22 years. She 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."

Mr Lau, an engineer, who was not at the award ceremony on Tuesday, went out of their flat to check and found out that one of the units directly below theirs was on fire.

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

"I told them not to panic and slowly walk down the stairs," she said.

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.

Concerned that her elderly neighbour, who is in her 80s, was unwell, she opened her door and found thick smoke rising from the unit below the woman's unit. She called the SCDF immediately.

Ms Lim, who has lived there for 17 years, said: "We were concerned because we're not sure whether she is alone at home or not. Sometimes, her son goes out."

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 elderly woman emerged from the flat with her son and daughter, who had felt the heat from the fire and were preparing to evacuate with their mother.

"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.

Both Ms Loh and Ms Lim said they did not expect to receive the award. "I just want to help my neighbours," said Ms Loh.