Bedok resident recalls how SCDF officers chided her when she sought help for circuit breaker fire

Circuit breaker catches fire in Bedok flat, resident shares experience with SCDF officers

At 10.50pm on Monday (4 March), a Bedok resident’s Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB) caught fire.

Recounting her ordeal in a Facebook post, she described the incidents that unfolded after she called the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) fire hazard line for help.

Fortunately, no one in her family sustained any injuries.

Circuit breaker emitted a lot of smoke despite small fire

Speaking to MS News, the OP, Ms Chong, shared that the fire took place in her home on Bedok Reservoir Road, next to Damai Secondary School.

In her Facebook post, the 40-year-old recalled that “the entire ordeal was a nightmare”.

When the incident occurred, Ms Chong was in the living room with a family member.

They sensed a burning smell emanating from the RCCB and noticed that the plastic was melting.

They managed to extinguish the fire in time, but the wires inside the box continued to spark.

Although the fire was small, it generated a substantial amount of smoke.

Since the RCCB was “glowing still”, Ms Chong decided to call the SCDF fire hazard hotline instead of 995 as she thought it wasn’t an emergency but still a fire hazard

She said that she spoke to someone whose rank was a Colonel and was “helpful and calm”.

The Colonel told her that he would send some officers down as he was unable to visualise the situation well enough to provide her with the best next steps.

Resident says SCDF officers chided her for reporting fire

However, Ms Chong claimed that she had an unpleasant experience when four SCDF officers arrived at her home.

“They didn’t talk to me. They talked down to me,” she wrote in her post.

She alleged that they repeatedly stressed they were not electricians and asked her why she called them.

The officers also remarked that they could not do anything to help her as there was no fire.

At that time, the electrical board was still glowing and there was a lot of soot.

“They were gonna leave us in the house without turning it off, or giving us advice,” Ms Chong said, adding that she decided to ring the SCDF fire hazard hotline again.

Officers eventually turn off power supply

The same Colonel from before picked up, and Ms Chong told him everything that happened.

He apologised and assured her that he would speak with the officers.

That seemed to work as they “became more polite” to Ms Chong and finally decided to start testing the board, causing it to spark further.

They then turned off the power supply, citing a fire hazard.

Eventually, the officers told her to dial a 24-hour electrician. Thereafter, the police arrived.

Ms Chong told MS News that the entire incident took place roughly between 11.10pm and 1am. She was also informed that calling the fire hazard hotline rather than 995 was the right decision.

“I shared my post in hopes of helping others as the SCDF officers did not help us at all and just made things scarier and worse,” she said.

“They did not even want to turn off the power supply and wanted to leave us as there was no fire and no real danger. It was lucky that nothing exploded.”

Responding to queries from MS News, a spokesperson said the SCDF is aware of the Facebook post.

The organisation claims it has reached out to Ms Chong regarding this matter. As for officers’ conduct, the spokesperson said: “SCDF expects its officers to always uphold the highest standards of professionalism.”

Town Council sent someone to modify circuit breaker in 2021

The following day (5 March) at around 12.46pm, representatives from the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) came to conduct checks.

Ms Chong explained to MS News that a few years before, in 2021, AHTC had sent someone to change “something on the outside box” of her RCCB.

This was part of the Home Improvement Programme (HIP), a refurbishment scheme for older HDB flats.

The person also modified “the same thing” for the box inside her house — the blue wire that ended up catching fire.

Fast forward to 5 March, the AHTC representative told her that no one from their council was meant to enter her house and that what happened in 2021 was a “private arrangement”.

Ms Chong found this misleading as the person who claimed to be from AHTC and changed the wire on the outside said that “he could change the same thing for the box inside”.

In her post, she also shared advice on how to calmly handle a house fire.

“I hope this post is a reminder that fires can happen anywhere, anytime. Do not take things for granted,” she emphasised.

Also read: Fire breaks out at Sembawang HDB unit, 1 person pronounced dead

Fire breaks out at Sembawang HDB unit, 1 person pronounced dead

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Featured image adapted from Facebook.