Some ppl might not be happy at all, this chinese new year~

Time: 12.30am
Venue: Blk 57, New Upper Changi Rd

as usual, i went down to NTUC for my nite guard part time... everythingy was ok... only this NTUC opened till 12 mid nite... so after the cashiers closed, me n the other NTUC guard cover up then entrances to the drinks n snacks... n i started rearranging the cartons of beer... till abt 12.30am...

i noticed the corridor of the blk was kinda hazy, so i walked down the corridor to check out where the smoke was coming from... n ended up infront of a shop selling incense... it's closed n smoke was coming out from the top of the door... it did occur to me tat it might be fire, but i didnt alert the fire fighters instantly cus i was afraid i would be making a false alarm... instead i thgt the shop owner might be burning somethingys inside...

so i went back to the NTUC... then the hazy was becoming ticker by the minute, so i went to check it out again... this time some other residents were looking around too... n we confirmed there was a fire inside... but we didnt hear anyone shouting for help from inside... i called the fire department immediately which was abt 1am... by the time i hang up the phone i could see fire on top of the door... i ran to get the fire extinguisher from NTUC n tried to put out the flame... i sprayed the top where the flames could be seen... but it was no use... even after we used up 3 fire extinguishers... each 2.5kg... they're volume were really too little to put out the burning flame...

i kept on going to the shop to try put out the fire n back to NTUC again... cus the smoke was too thick for me to breathe n see... kept choking too... the smoke was already reaching for the residents above the 1st floor... n some came down immediately... n alot were still fast asleep cus it was already 1am... some of us did wanted to go up n help the rest of the residents living on top of the burning shop... but we could only climb till half a storey n we turned back down... cus it was impossible to breathe n were blinded by the smoke... we could only wait for the fire fighters to come... which was abt 20-30mins later... kinda slow for such an emergency...

we were lucky... cus NTUC was abt 3 shops away from the burning shop... plus there was a staircase in between us too... n the power n lightings were all linked seperately... even when the flame n smoke melt the plastics n blow up the corridor lights... those in n around NTUC were still ok... after the fire fighters came, i had a look at myself... my black T-shirt n jeans were covered by white dusts from the fire extinguisher... but still able to dust it off...

this was the beri 1st time i encountered a real fire... n tried to help out... but not good enough... should have already called the fire department the beri 1st time i saw smoke coming out of the shop... n should have shouted "fire" to alert everyone... but i didnt... kinda feel stupid... but luckily no one was hurt... maybe slight shock or breathe in too much smoke...

but they took almost 2hrs to put out the fire... n continued to spray the shop with water in case the fire might re-burn... cus of the flammable incense... unfortunately the 2 shops beside the incense shop caught abit of the fire too... but their damage wasn't as bad as the main one... only their sign boards n maybe a part of the walls were burnt... n till this morning 7am they were still spraying the shop with water... total it lasted abt 6hrs plus... when i left at 8.30am they were still there... but the paramedics n some police n fire fighters went back... only a few of them stayed behind to control the crowd n make sure everythingy is in control...

it was kinda funny, as the fire fighters were putting out the flame... they were running here n there n were all exhausted... they asked us if we had any drinks... so the boss of NTUC approved it n we gave them all the FOC drinks... like 500ml mineral water n 1.5l H2O... hehe then ended up those ppl who would be buying drinks from this NTUC won't be getting any free drinks...

hai~ not sure how the shop owner would be rite now... but heard due to chinese new year... he ordered in alot of stocks n alot were burnt in just one nite... hai~ only 2 more days till chinese new year n this kinda thingys struck... wat a year for the shop owner... n wat an experience for me... it really let me see that fire can create thingys... n it could also destroy thingys if not put under control...