About Encounters with Animals

Animals #1 

3m-long python snared in industrial park

Published on Oct 26, 2013

Pythons

A PYTHON measuring 3m in length was caught yesterday morning at an industrial park in Ang Mo Kio after it was spotted by workers in the area.

Driver Ronald Ong, 29, told The Straits Times that he learnt about the snake from another worker there, who spotted it at Block 5048 in Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 at around 8.15am.

The men alerted the police and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), an animal rights group.

About an hour later, two officers from Acres arrived and caught the snake, which was hiding under a container.

Mr Ong said: "I don't think this is the first time a snake has been spotted here. But we're not scared or worried. We'll just take care not to provoke them."

He noted that signs had been put up to warn people of snake sightings in the area.

The 10kg python had eaten a cat, said Ms Anbarasi Boopal, the group director of wildlife at Acres, who added that it would be released into the wild.

She noted that Acres receives about three to five calls a day about snakes, and they usually do not pose a public danger.

"Not all the snakes are rescued, because they are found in their natural habitats. People might be alarmed, not knowing that they can be harmless," she said.

"For example, pythons can be found in canals but it's all right to let them be."

Members of the public can call Acres' 24-hour Wildlife Rescue Hotline at 9783-7782.

Fire #1

Cleaners to the rescue in HDB flat fire 

Published on Oct 19, 2013

WHEN a fire broke out in a second-floor Housing Board flat in Ang Mo Kio yesterday morning, its four residents were left with only one way out - through the kitchen window.

Thick flames had engulfed most of the one-room rental flat in Block 115, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 by then, and two residents leapt to the ground.

The other two, Mr Gan Hwee Sun, 72, and Ms Teo Siew Choo, 50, stood precariously on the window ledge until they were helped to the ground by Bangladeshi cleaners, using a ladder.

Mr Gan and Ms Teo, both musicians in a Chinese funeral procession band, shared the flat with Ms Teo's friend, Mr Choon Siew Weng, 56, and her younger brother, 37.

Mr Gan emerged unharmed, while the other three were taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. The younger brother, who was not named, was warded in the high dependency unit for fall injuries, a hospital spokesman said. The other two suffered burns.

A 70-year-old resident upstairs who suffered from smoke inhalation was also warded.

Alerted to the incident just after 8am, firefighters forced their way into the unit and put out the blaze within 15 minutes.

When The Straits Times visited Ms Teo in hospital, she was visibly shaken after hearing that one of her two pet dogs had died in the fire. The other dog escaped unscathed when firefighters entered the flat.

Mr Gan said he was having a shower when Ms Teo banged on the door screaming "Fire". He only had time to put on his boxer shorts before going through the kitchen window, but was too scared to take another step.

"I didn't know what was happening. I was holding on to the bamboo pole holder until the cleaners came."

Follow-up story to the above article 

By Jalelah Abu Baker

CLEANER Rahman Md Arifur was at the void deck of Block 115 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 yesterday morning when he saw two men jumping from the second floor.

He looked up to see two other people balancing on a ledge, hanging onto bamboo-pole holders outside a window on the second floor, with black smoke billowing behind them.

The 31-year-old immediately alerted the cleaner in charge of the area, Mr Abu Repon Abu Koddus.

When Mr Repon, 38, arrived, he fetched a ladder from a nearby block.

In the meantime, two other cleaners and two neighbours also rallied to help. They placed discarded mattresses on the ground as a safety measure.

They also moved the two men who had already jumped down, Mr Choon Siew Weng, 56, and the other man, 37, to the void deck for their safety.

When the ladder was placed below Ms Teo Siew Choo and Mr Gan Hwee Sun, the two people who were desperately hanging on to escape the fire, they were too afraid to go down.

"The woman was shivering," Mr Repon said, speaking to the media. "So I climbed up, held her hand, and came down with her. Then I brought the man down."

For their public spiritedness, six individuals, including Mr Rahman and Mr Repon, received awards from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

Mr Patrick Perera, who also received the award, was in his kitchen in the opposite block when he heard a loud thud from the two residents jumping down.

He rushed to the scene and was the one who placed the mattresses.

The 36-year-old, who rehabilitates injured horses, said he was only doing his duty as a "fellow human".

3rd Civil Defence Division commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Alvin Tan, in presenting the awards to the recipients, said: "It was your quick thinking and fast response that managed to save two of the lives."

Fire 

A FIRE that disrupted power in a commercial building in Geylang yesterday was extinguished by firefighters within five minutes.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at a ground floor unit in Prosper House at 5.57pm. One red rhino and two fire engines were deployed to the scene at 101 Lorong 23 Geylang.

An SP Powergrid spokesman said a "cable fault" caused the fire and that it "was contained within the electrical transformer room".

There were no casualties. Investigations are ongoing.

AUDREY TAN

Fire #3 

Laundry catches fire while boy is home alone

Published on Nov 02, 2013

AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD boy was alone at home in a Teck Whye Crescent flat when a blanket hanging outside his fifth-floor unit caught fire yesterday afternoon.

Speaking to The Straits Times, the boy, who was unhurt in the incident, said he was watching television when he saw smoke entering the kitchen window of the one-room flat.

Although he was afraid, he tried to stay calm and threw cups of water at the blanket in an attempt to douse the flames.

"I was so scared, I was shaking, but I thought I should try putting out the fire first," he said in Malay.

But the fire soon spread to a towel hanging near the kitchen window, he added.

"I threw the cups of water at the flames. But when it didn't stop I was really scared and started crying for help."

His shouts were heard by neighbours, who immediately called the authorities.

A relative of the boy, who lives on the fourth floor of the same block, was alerted to the fire by neighbours.

"People were saying there was a fire but I didn't know it was at the boy's house till I got to the fifth floor. I tried calling his parents but couldn't reach them," said the 16-year-old.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it received a call for assistance at about 2.50pm.

Officers arrived in eight minutes to find that the young boy's efforts had helped to extinguish the fire.

Little damage was done to the flat. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

When The Straits Times left the scene yesterday, the boy's parents had not yet returned home. When contacted, his mother declined to confirm the name of her son.

The boy said: "It was scary, but I'm glad nothing in my house was spoilt."

maryamm@sph.com.sg

Fire #4 

Here is a video link that shows a SCDF fire fighter describing how his men doused the fire  '

Fire #5 

Fire at Sengkang: Lucky escape for family

The New Paper

Saturday, Jan 11, 2014

SINGAPORE- Madam Lyn Kasman is glad that she did not take her asthma medication before going to bed.

If she had, she might have continued sleeping while her four-room Compassvale Walk flat in Sengkang, with her three children in it, was on fire.

The housewife woke up yesterday at about 1am after hearing a noise outside her bedroom, only to discover that the room opposite was burning.

Madam Lyn, 38, immediately roused her children, aged between five and nine, who were sleeping in her room and ran to her neighbour's house for help.

Her husband was at work then.

After her neighbours' attempts to fight the growing fire failed, the group rushed from the fourth storey to the carpark.

Pills

Said Madam Lyn, who had been taking pills for a week since an asthma attack on Jan 1: "I was lucky that I decided to stop my medication before I went to sleep on the night the fire broke out, or else I might not have woken up,"

Once she alerted them, her neighbour, Mr Omar Manojoh, 55, and his son tried to fight the fire with a towel and a pail of water.

But the flames, which were around 1.8m high, shot to the ceiling and caused the glass windows to break, Mr Omar recounted.

"That was when I realised we had to evacuate," he said.

Madam Lyn's husband, cargo handler Irwan Jasmin, 42, was working on his second job as a parking attendant in Punggol when he received the call from his wife.

"When my wife told me that the house was on fire, my first thought was that it was just a small one," he said.

But he was shaken by the scale of the blaze when he reached his block 10 minutes later on his bicycle.

"Thick smoke was coming out of the window and the stairwell. At that time, I was only thinking about the safety of my family," Mr Irwan recounted.

His fears were allayed when Mr Omar told him that his family was safe.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to the fire at 1.01am and extinguished it 15 minutes after arriving at the scene.

There were no casualties.

Residents in the units surrounding the affected flat were also asked to evacuate and had to wait for about two hours before they were allowed to return to their homes.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Madam Lyn said the affected room was used for her children's tuition lessons and to store their belongings.

Mr Irwan's family is now staying at Mr Omar's flat until they can return to their own.

Thick smoke coming out of a Sengkang unit which caught fire in the middle of the night. 

Corridor of the burnt unit at Sengkang.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to the fire at 1.01am and extinguished it 15 minutes after arriving at the scene.

Home owner Irwan Jasmin surveying the damage of his four-room Compassvale Walk flat in Sengkang after a fire that broke out there at about 1am on Jan 8. 

Fire #6

Chua Chu Kang fire: Maid escapes with elderly lady on her back 

AsiaOne / Shin Min Daily News

Monday, Feb 17, 2014

SINGAPORE - A maid carried her elderly stroke-stricken employer on her back to escape from a fire which broke out at a neighbour's unit at 7am this morning.

According to a Shin Min Daily report, a fire broke out on a 8th floor unit of Blk 297C Chua Chu Kang Avenue 2, and sent many residents fleeing from their homes.

The panicked maid tumbled down a flight of stairs while making her way down from the 11th to 10th storey, and she fell to the ground along with her elderly employer.

A male neighbour who passed by promptly carried the elderly lady down the remaining floors to safety.

The residents, mostly elderly, self-evacuated to the void deck, and wore masks to prevent from inhaling the thick smoke.

Residents also told Shin Min reporters that many discarded items lined the 8th floor corridor, which posed as obstructions in times of emergency.

minlee@sph.com.sg