Elderly Victim in Bukit Batok Fire Died One Month After Incident That a Company Tried to ‘Cover Up’

Last Updated on 2019-12-12 , 9:00 am

On the early morning of 1 November, the SCDF carried out a dramatic rescue after an HDB flat in Bukit Batok St 21 caught fire.

The SCDF officers managed to rescue a woman in her 60s from the toilet while two men were rescued on the ledge outside the kitchen window with a 60m ladder.

All three people were taken to Singapore General Hospital for burn injuries and smoke inhalation.

Unfortunately, one month later, the woman has passed away.

Bukit Batok MP Murali Pillai announced the news from his Facebook Page a few hours ago today (10 December 2019):

Now, it’s unclear if her passing has anything to do with the fire, but lest you’ve not been catching up with the news, this fire isn’t just your typical fire.

It revealed the complacency of several individuals, and a “cover-up” that you probably only see in movies.

Large Fire

The cause of the fire is unknown, but according to an eyewitness then, the fire was “big and fierce”, and it burned for a whopping thirty minutes.

Residents in the flat were evacuated as firefighters fought the fire.

But unlike any fire they’ve fought, the firefighters faced a problem.

A man-made problem.

Hose Reel Cabinets Locked with No Water

With the fire on the 13th storey, you can’t expect firefighters to spray water from the ground to the unit. Gravity is a real thing.

If you’d have noticed, every floor of our building has a hose reel cabinet (in red), and it’s to be used in emergencies like this.

Apparently, some of the hose reel cabinets on the flat were padlocked…which shouldn’t be the case, of course.

The firefighters gave no thought about it then and broke the padlock to access the hose reel…but there was no water.

So, what happened?

Man-Made Problems

Now, the area is managed by the Jurong-Clementi Town Council (JCTC), and here’s what they found out:

The hose reel cabinet had been padlocked by a property officer due to “frequent vandalism”. Not much details were given about that, but the town council has stated that the property officer involved had been “redeployed” and his two supervisors would also be penalized.

But the question on your mind is this: why no water?

The maintenance of the hose reel is outsourced to a company called J Keart Alliances. An online check shows that it’s “a leading provider of mechanical and engineering works for fire protection systems and fire safety-related services in Singapore.”

And it’s a rather big company with a headcount of 100 staff and has been “protecting lives since 1988”.

Two weeks before the fire, the hose reel had just undergone maintenance and testing by the company, and it was “certified” to be in working condition.

So, once again: then why no water?

I guess finding out the truth initially wasn’t easy because everything seems okay after the fire.

But here’s when it gets a tad like a scene from a Hong Kong drama.

Apparently, a few hours after the fire, a J Keart Alliances employee had gone to the pump room.

No one knew what he did, but the CCTV caught him in the room and he was brought in for questioning.

He then confessed the truth: during the maintenance two weeks ago, he had forgotten to turn a switch that’ll let the hose reel work normally. So he was there to “cover up” for his (or his company’s?) mistake.

In a nutshell, I’ll use the word that mainstream media hadn’t used.

Cover-up.

Well, his attempt failed and now, a woman has died.

According to J Keart Alliances, “appropriate action” has been taken against the employee and he would be redeployed.

Hmm…

I don’t know about you, but if he were being honest right from the start, a second chance might be acceptable.

But a second chance for a cover-up that’s exposed by CCTV?

A no for me.