Singapore — After Maple Bear pre-school on Pasir Panjang Road caught fire on Tuesday evening (Aug 10), two men rushed into the burning colonial building ahead of the SCDF’s arrival to make sure that nobody had been trapped inside.
Fortunately, there were neither injuries nor casualties from the fire, and firefighters were able to get it under control quickly.
“We are thankful that there was no one onsite when the fire broke,” wrote Member of Parliament Rachel Ong (PAP – West Coast GRC) in a Facebook post she published later that night.
Ms Ong also lauded the courage of a Grab food delivery rider and another man dressed in blue who had gone into the building while it was aflame.
“Bravo for their courage, hopefully we’ll get to meet to properly thank them!”, she added.
The MP wrote in her post that the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) had received an alert concerning a fire at 243 Pasir Panjang Road at around 7.00 that evening.
A video of the fire was also widely circulated on Facebook.
Firefighters “conducted forced entry into the premises” and used two water jets to extinguish the flames, which only affected the front part of the building.
The cause of the fire is still unknown and is under investigation.
The Straits Times reported that it had reached out to Maple Bear, a Canadian pre-school with a number of branches all over Singapore, but that the school declined to give a comment.
Ms Ong wrote that for the duration of the fire, residents living in the nearby area were asked to evacuate for the time being, but by 8.30 that night, most of them had been able to go back to their own residences.
“Those I spoke with were doing well and feeling calm. Everyone was wonderfully cooperative and looked out for each other, our Pasir Panjang spirit!”, she added.
The MP also wrote that she was “very grateful to Inspector Lim & his team at Queenstown Neighbourhood Police Centre, @queenstownnpc and our @myscdf team for their leadership and expertise,” and called all of them “our everyday heroes!”
/TISG
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