Man escapes burning BMW along BKE, thankful to be alive

Singapore – A man driving his BMW on the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) noticed a burning smell within the car. Then smoke started coming out and the vehicle caught fire, which destroyed it.

On Sunday (March 7), motorist Lester Cher took to Facebook to share his harrowing experience of escaping the burning car on March 6. Mr Cher was driving along BKE towards the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) when he picked up a burning smell from within the car.

“Initially thinking that it might be coming from the ambient air outside of the car but I soon realised something was amiss when white smoke started coming out from passenger side aircon,” wrote Mr Cher.

He immediately pulled the car aside to the road shoulder and shut it down for inspection.

Mr Cher owned a BMW X-1, as pictured below. He noted that there was no warning light or messages, and the engine was fine.

“However, the smoking did not cease. It started getting darker and heavier, and that was when I suspected that the source of the smoke may be from the fuse box, and truly, it was.”

When Mr Cher opened the lid of the fuse box behind the glove compartment, there were audible sparking noises as well as a fire within the fuse box.

He immediately called 995 for assistance and evacuated the vehicle in fear that it might explode. The car was soon engulfed in flames.

The Expressway Monitoring Advisory System (EMAS) was soon at the scene to fight the fire with a portable extinguisher but to no avail, said Mr Cher.

Eventually, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived, and a team of firefighters put out the fire in less than five minutes, he added. “No one was hurt in the incident,” said Mr Cher.

Although shaken and traumatised, Mr Cher expressed gratitude that he escaped the vehicle in time.

The vehicle owner also noted that the car was still under warranty and fully serviced by BMW Singapore. “They just did a replacement of a fuse on Mar 4, 2021, two days before the incident.” There were also no modifications to the car./TISG

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