S’pore Bus Captain Gets Lifesaver Award For Putting Out Fire In Lorry

If you think that Wonder Woman doesn’t exist, think again.

She exists in ordinary women doing extraordinary feats when the situation calls for it.

No, not this Wonder Woman.

We’re talking about Siew Mui (nothing to do with siew mai).

The Incident

On 26 Sep 2019, SBS Bus Captain Ms Thien Siew Mui was plying her usual bus 247 route in the Tuas area when she saw a lorry on fire driving past her bus.

She reacted immediately. She honked for the lorry to stop, and when it did she asked permission from her bus passengers to help the distressed lorry driver. She then grabbed the fire extinguisher and headed towards the burning lorry.

She put out the fire in 20 seconds.

Like a boss.

An Everyday Hero

Her swift and decisive reaction was caught on video and quickly uploaded to social media and got Ms Thien praise from netizens.

Here is the video:

Ms Thien’s act of bravery caught the attention of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Road Safety Council. Both organizations presented her with awards.

On the 3 October 2019, during the award ceremony, Colonel Anthony Toh, Commander of the 4th SCDF Division said Ms Thian’s small action had prevented the fire from escalating.

Ms Thien was presented with SCDF’s Community Life Saver Award. “We hope through this simple recognition, we can encourage the public to come forward to be community first responders.

This is a feather in the cap of Ms Thien, a Malaysian working as a Bus Captain with SBS for 9 years.

When interviewed, the 38-year-old heroine was extremely humble about her act of heroism. “I just did what anyone else would have done,” she said.

No, Ms Thien. If that were my boss, he’d jump out of the bus and run away.

When she saw that the driver, and another driver were unsuccessful in putting out the fire, Ms Thien immediately grabbed the fire extinguisher and headed to the scene.

“I asked the passengers if they could give me a few minutes. When they said okay, I went down immediately with the extinguisher” said Ms Thien. She had 50 passengers on board at the time.

Like all bus captains, Ms Thien is trained in simple firefighting techniques.

Once the fire was put out, Ms Thien rushed back to her double-decker 247 to resume her route. She did not want to unnecessarily delay her passengers any further.

She only came to know that her act of heroism went viral much later, but just responded with a laugh.

Singapore Needs More Life Savers like Ms Thien

Community Centres regularly conduct free Life Saving Courses involving Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Basic Burn Treatment, The Use of Fire Extinguishers and Automated External Defibrillators.

Do check with the CC Staff at your nearest CC and keep a lookout for posters.

Accidents and emergencies happen all the time and are totally unavoidable. Yet if we are all equipped with the knowledge and act when emergencies do happen, many more lives can be saved.

After all, the people involved are somebody else’s family members, and just like how we would like others to step forward and help our family members in emergency situations, we may also find ourselves in situations where we can help others in emergency situations, provided we have the right knowledge.