Man dashed back to Woodlands flat that caught fire to save wife and cat

SINGAPORE – Despite having difficulty walking, Mr Abd Hamzah Midi, 61, did not hesitate to rush back into his one-room rental flat to save his wife

when a fire broke out in the unit

at Block 806 Woodlands Street 81 in the early hours of Monday.

His wife, Madam Siti Aminah Khamis, was in the kitchen with their cat, while he was in the corridor outside the fifth-floor unit.

Mr Abd Hamzah, who walks with a limp, told Malay-language newspaper Berita Harian: “It was scary, but I didn’t care because my wife was inside. I had to save her and the cat.”

Madam Siti, 56, said she grabbed hold of him and they escaped together.

“At first, I thought I could hide in the toilet, but luckily I didn’t because the fire got larger and engulfed the whole flat,” she said.

They managed to escape unscathed, although she suffered a small cut to her right hand. The cat was also fine.

The fire is believed to have started from a personal mobility aid (PMA) in the living room.

Mr Abd Hamzah said that before smoke enveloped the corridor, he tried to sound the alert by shouting for help, while his wife phoned their daughter, who lives on the sixth floor in another rental unit.

Ms Siti Hairah Abd Hamzah, 30, was watching the World Cup final at the time. Smoke had already filled most of the corridor when she went down to the fifth floor.

She saw neighbours rushing out of their flats, and she helped her parents make their way to the void deck.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at 2am on Monday. About 100 people were evacuated from the block as a precaution.

Three people were taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for smoke inhalation, and preliminary investigations revealed that the fire was of electrical origin.

Madam Siti said the PMA was bought by her second son, a GrabFood deliveryman, on Carousell. She and her husband recounted how the

PMA’s battery had made a clicking noise before catching fire.

Ms Siti said the battery – which was bought separately from someone else – was already defective before it was sold, but that this information was not revealed by the seller. Her brother learnt that it was an expired battery only after the fire occurred.

Warning people about fires of electrical origin, SCDF said they should not charge batteries for an extended period or overnight. “Do not purchase or use non-original batteries,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Housing Board has obtained a temporary residence for the couple at Block 180C Marsiling Road.

Ms Mariam Jaafar, an MP for Sembawang GRC, said Sembawang Town Council will help to clean and repair affected units. She was watching the World Cup final at the nearby Woodlands Community Club (CC) when the fire broke out.

“A group of grassroots leaders headed down (to the block) right away, while a few of us briefed the team at the CC and contacted the relevant agencies before heading over,” she said.