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Condo resident gets SCDF award for putting out kitchen fire and evacuating residents

SINGAPORE – Bukit Panjang resident Bryan Toh hardly imagined that when he went downstairs to wash his car in March, he would be using a water hose to put out a fire in his neighbour’s kitchen.

On March 6, Mr Toh was washing his car at the carpark of a condominium in the Cashew area where he lives when he noticed smoke coming from his neighbour’s ground-floor unit.

Without thinking twice, Mr Toh, who is the regional director for business development at a food tech firm, rushed to get the hose from his car and started to put out the fire. 

For his bravery and public spiritedness, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) presented Mr Toh, 36, with the Community Lifesaver Award on Monday.

The award is given to people whose actions involved an element of risk to themselves or they helped save lives or both. 

Along with Mr Toh, five other people were given the Community First Responder Award, given to those who stepped forward to help those who are in distress or save property. 

Speaking to The Straits Times, Mr Toh, who is married and has two children aged eight and six, said the fire grew so quickly that he reacted purely on instinct.

He said: “When I went to get the hose from my car, I remember that the smoke was white. 

“Then, the smoke became much more severe and turned black in the space of only 30 seconds.” 

Mr Toh added that he remembered shouting “Fire! Fire!” to alert the nearby units while calling the SCDF. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream, he said.

With the help of his neighbours, he connected the hose to a water tap and managed to put out the fire before the SCDF arrived. 

He said: “If I wasn’t washing my car, I wouldn’t have had the hose on hand, and it would have taken me so much longer to attend to the fire.” 

SCDF firefighters arrived in less than 10 minutes after he made the call, and by then, 16 units had been evacuated. The fire, meanwhile, had been completely extinguished. 

Mr Toh grew up in the Cashew estate, near Bukit Panjang, and as the chairman of the condo management corporation strata title managing body, he had good ties with his neighbours. 

He said: “I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt, I didn’t want anyone to die.”

Mr Toh said since he was young, he always had a passion to help others in any way that he could. 

He added: “I always think that if I don’t do it, who else will? 

“If I have the capability and the capacity to help, it is a must for me to give back.” 

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