today i saw, for the first time, real life, a team of singaporean firemen at work. i concluded three things:
1) It's boring being a fireman
2) Singaporeans are kaypoh
3) The tv cannot be trusted.
for a tiny kitchen fire, the mobilisation was massive. one red rhino, two fire engines (one of which made a wrong turn in the carpark, and hence hammered on the wrong door, bewildering the wrong filipino maid - "no suh, no suh, no fire suh."), and three police cars. i counted 21 firefighters, including those who got lost and eventually found their way after their colleagues laughed instructions to them via the walkie talkie. i counted four who eventually barged into the apartment, and 17 who stood around chatting, one of which wandered off to take pictures with a delightedly frightened little girl. maybe, with singapore's low rate of fires, any fire is an excuse to get the whole station out for some fresh air, instead of playing poker (i'm assuming, i don't really know) all day.
no matter, the grand entourage of emblazoned vehicles drew quite a crowd, it being singapore and all.
it got boring though, so i went home. the rhino crew, who arrived first, ran up carrying a very menancing looking pair of giant scissors, which, according to the uncle who poked me and spoke in hokkien, could cut away the entire gate. i told him, in english, hahaha. as it turned out, the scissors couldn't cut the padlock, or at least, was sawing through it so slowly, that the apartment would have become a furnace by the time they got through. i looked at the uncle, who gave me a sheepish grin. by this time the first engine had arrived. the men went round the back of the estate, located the kitchen window, and then ran back to the engine, yelling "OI LADDER LADDER!!" in the kind of men-in-action, masculine-professionalism growl. two firemen scurried up the ladder and broke into the kitchen with frightening ease, and i made a mental note to remind my mother to lock the grills. at around the same time, the firemen finally broke the padlock, and barged into the flat, again with ridiculous ease. after that, there was nothing to see, so i went home.
it was funny, though, to see the second engine still circling my carpark, trying to get to the site, though the firemen had already hopped off and ran across on foot.
but still, kudos to our unsung (well, not really) heroes, without whom singapore would probably be a bit hotter than it already is.
