<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Disturbed by residents' apathy to fire
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WHEN a fire starts, what do you do?
When some residents of an HDB block in Clementi West smelled smoke and saw the light from a fire in the communal washing area, they called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
Then they closed all their windows, turned on the air-conditioning to get rid of the smoke and sat back to wait for the fire brigade to handle things.
While they were doing that, a 60-year-old retiree went downstairs with a pail of water and put out the fire in less than five minutes.
The topic of apathy among Singaporeans is a recurrent one, but few things illustrate it as dishearteningly as this incident, which took place on Tuesday morning.
The fire was a small one; it had not even reached the walls of the washing area. Yet rather than investigate, let alone do something about it, my neighbours closed their windows and went back to sleep.
I live in the block where the fire started, and it was my father who, woken by the smoke, went down to see what had happened and then came running back upstairs to get a pail of water. One pail did the job. The fire was out before the SCDF arrived.
So where was everyone else? It was only 6am or so - a time when at least some people were already awake, either getting ready to go to work or getting their children ready to go to school. But whether at 6am, midnight or noon, a fire is a communal threat. Even a small fire can spread rapidly and wreak havoc on the lower storeys of a housing block. The images of smoke-stained corridors and destroyed homes that accompany fire reports in the newspapers ought to be enough warning for anyone.
Why did no one else take action? For those living on the lower floors - those who would be most at risk if the fire spread - it would be a moment's work to go downstairs with a pail of water. Did they feel that action was unnecessary, since the SCDF would handle it quickly and competently? Did they believe the fire would not affect them? Or did they simply decide it was too much trouble to get out of bed at 6am just to see where some smoke was coming from?
There are disturbing implications if any of these questions is answered with a 'yes'. Reliance on the Government to take care of problems, complacency, head-in-the-sand refusal to acknowledge there is a problem - all these things are regularly bemoaned in discussions. And despite the many encouraging stories about people who step up and do their part, this little episode in the HDB heartland suggests there is still an underlying thread of indifference in our collective psyche.
If people will not take action even when a fire is lit right under them, what will it take to make them care? I hope we never have to find out.
Mint Kang (Ms)
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WHEN a fire starts, what do you do?
When some residents of an HDB block in Clementi West smelled smoke and saw the light from a fire in the communal washing area, they called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
Then they closed all their windows, turned on the air-conditioning to get rid of the smoke and sat back to wait for the fire brigade to handle things.
While they were doing that, a 60-year-old retiree went downstairs with a pail of water and put out the fire in less than five minutes.
The topic of apathy among Singaporeans is a recurrent one, but few things illustrate it as dishearteningly as this incident, which took place on Tuesday morning.
The fire was a small one; it had not even reached the walls of the washing area. Yet rather than investigate, let alone do something about it, my neighbours closed their windows and went back to sleep.
I live in the block where the fire started, and it was my father who, woken by the smoke, went down to see what had happened and then came running back upstairs to get a pail of water. One pail did the job. The fire was out before the SCDF arrived.
So where was everyone else? It was only 6am or so - a time when at least some people were already awake, either getting ready to go to work or getting their children ready to go to school. But whether at 6am, midnight or noon, a fire is a communal threat. Even a small fire can spread rapidly and wreak havoc on the lower storeys of a housing block. The images of smoke-stained corridors and destroyed homes that accompany fire reports in the newspapers ought to be enough warning for anyone.
Why did no one else take action? For those living on the lower floors - those who would be most at risk if the fire spread - it would be a moment's work to go downstairs with a pail of water. Did they feel that action was unnecessary, since the SCDF would handle it quickly and competently? Did they believe the fire would not affect them? Or did they simply decide it was too much trouble to get out of bed at 6am just to see where some smoke was coming from?
There are disturbing implications if any of these questions is answered with a 'yes'. Reliance on the Government to take care of problems, complacency, head-in-the-sand refusal to acknowledge there is a problem - all these things are regularly bemoaned in discussions. And despite the many encouraging stories about people who step up and do their part, this little episode in the HDB heartland suggests there is still an underlying thread of indifference in our collective psyche.
If people will not take action even when a fire is lit right under them, what will it take to make them care? I hope we never have to find out.
Mint Kang (Ms)