SINGAPORE — Three children rescued by firefighters from a Redhill flat on Monday (Aug 14) were covered in soot and looked scared, a witness told TODAY. One child was bleeding from the foot, she added.

The children were conscious and able to walk before they were taken to hospital, Ms Ifva Hadith the witness said. The 30-year-old, who works as a content creator, lives on the seventh storey of Block 71, Redhill Road.

The fire took hold at about 7am in a neighbouring flat on the floor where she lives.

Another witness told TODAY that she had seen the children's mother sobbing near a lift lobby of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) block, telling neighbours that her children were still inside the burning flat.

TODAY understands that the oldest child is a 13-year-old girl, and her younger brother and sister are both under the age of 10.

In a Facebook post, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that the children were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, while two persons managed to get out of the blazing flat before firefighting personnel arrived.

Those two persons were assessed for smoke inhalation but declined to be taken to hospital. SCDF did not state in the post whether the two were found to be suffering from smoke inhalation.

It also did not state if the two persons are the children's parents.

SOUNDED LIKE A CAR ACCIDENT

When Ms Ifva heard two loud "boom" sounds from outside her Redhill seventh storey flat in the morning, she thought that it was a traffic accident.

It was only when she heard persistent cries for help that she realised that the explosion-like sounds had come from much closer — her neighbour's flat.

She told TODAY that when she opened her front door, she saw smoke swirling along the corridor.

She described the scene as “chaotic”, with neighbours rushing to help by breaking down the burning flat's metal window panes with a fire extinguisher and a hammer to help its occupants escape.

Ms Ifva also said that the children looked scared and had soot on their faces and clothes, with one of them bleeding from the foot. 

Another neighbour, who wanted to be known only as Madam Choo, told TODAY in Mandarin that she heard what sounded like a small explosion as well as panicked screaming when she was about to take her morning shower.

The 72-year-old retiree said that she did not want to open her door because she was too scared.

FIVE CATS SAVED

SCDF said in its Facebook post on Monday afternoon that it was alerted to the fire at 7.20am. 

Another resident on the seventh floor, who declined to be named, told TODAY that before the firefighters arrived, some neighbours had used buckets of water to try to douse the flames.

She also saw a woman sobbing at the lift lobby at the end of the corridor, telling neighbours that her children were still inside the flat. 

SCDF said that two persons from the affected unit evacuated through a bedroom window before its personnel arrived at the scene. 

When rescuers arrived, residents informed them that there were still occupants trapped inside the smoke-logged apartment, and they immediately made a forced entry by breaking the padlock of the metal gate.

The fire was located at the corner of the living room and was extinguished by its personnel with several buckets of water. 

“While the fire was being extinguished, another team of firefighters that were searching the premises found three children inside the toilet at the back of the kitchen,” SCDF added. 

The children were carried out from the flat by the firefighters and assessed by an ambulance crew, before all three were taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital as they were suffering from smoke inhalation.

SCDF said that five cats were also taken out of the affected flat during the operation. 

When Ms Ifva noticed that the family’s cats were left at the lift lobby at the end of the corridor, she decided to go over to look after them, as she felt that it was “the least (she) could do”. 

“Humans can talk, but the cats cannot talk. Some of them were panting… really heart pain,” she said. 

Some residents told TODAY that the family living in the burnt flat had just moved into the apartment several months before Monday’s fire. 

FIRE ‘LIKELY ORIGINATED’ FROM PERSONAL MOBILITY DEVICES

When TODAY visited the scene of the incident at around 5pm, the flat was unoccupied with most of its window panels missing.

The floors of the living room and bedroom were covered in soot and the furniture in the apartment were visibly charred. 

Several SCDF personnel were present at the scene to assess the condition of the unit. 

“Preliminary investigation indicates that the fire had likely originated from the batteries of two personal mobility devices (PMDs) that were charging in the living room,” SCDF said in its Facebook post. 

It reminded the public not to charge batteries “for an extended period of time or overnight” in order to prevent fires started by PMDs or power-assisted bicycles, and not to buy or use non-original batteries.