If a fire breaks out in your home and the path to the front door is blocked, would you take the risk and dangle yourself out of the window?
Two people did exactly that to escape a fire in Geylang.
2 Hang Out of Window to Escape Geylang Fire
At an unknown time past 3:00 am today (29 July), a fire broke out in a fifth-floor unit at the Sunflower Regency condos.
Lianhe Zaobao reported that a 24/7 shop owner heard cries for help. He looked up and saw the building on fire.
Even worse was the sight of two people hanging out of the burning Geylang unit’s window and haphazardly standing on the small fifth-floor ledge to escape the fire.
As someone with a fear of heights, this is quite literally a nightmare scenario.
The shopowner called the emergency services immediately.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was on hand to respond at 3:30 am. Using a combined platform ladder, they rescued the two people on the ledge.
Firefighters also entered the unit and battled the flames. They found a third person in a bedroom, who had suffered the effects of smoke inhalation.
The SCDF conveyed all three victims of the fire to the hospital. They also extinguished the fire using a water jet.
Burning Unit was Dormitory for 8 Migrant Workers
By then, the living room was a burnt wreck littered with the remains of furniture. The rest of the unit had suffered serious heat and smoke damage, and the outer walls of the building were charred black.
The photos from the SCDF also showed that the living room’s window frames were so badly damaged that they had fallen loose.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries during the operation when a chunk of false ceiling fell off and hit him in the neck and shoulders. He was also transported to a hospital as a precaution.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the unit was a dormitory for eight migrant workers. One of them described being awoken in the middle of the night by pounding on his door, telling him a fire had broken out.
He woke up those around him before hurriedly fleeing the unit. The interviewed worker added that he had left all his valuables in the house and hoped that his passport had survived.
Not the First Case of Window Dangling to Escape Fires
This isn’t the first time that someone has gotten desperate enough to escape a raging fire that they hang themselves out of their window.
Ten years ago, four Town Council workers and two members of the public rescued two people doing just that trying to escape.
In 2021, a couple and their son took things further by jumping out of the window entirely when trapped inside their burning home.
Thankfully they lived on the second floor and survived.
The conclusion I’m getting here is not to live on a floor where you can’t survive diving out of the window.
Return to the old short HDBs?
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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