thank GOoDness~!!!!
Friday, June 17th, 2005Something I would view as a miracle happened yesterday evening~!!! There was this HUGE fire that tore down the entire block of shops BUT managed to be tamed just when it was starting to lick its way onto my family’s (all sisters and brother, mother’s side) lot~!!! The entire block was brought down save one~! (see my photo profile to see the shop.) This unit survived the incident with minor charring, and bits of the roof being burnt. Miraculously nothing had been lost to these tenants. (A prayer of thanks from me for the furniture shop, QPS and MG mobile.)
My family (mom and dad) and i were just eating our dinner (very early dinner….) at around 6.30pm when mom received a phone call saying that the old shop was on fire. This brought a chain of phone calls following the first, even all the way from KK (thanks cousins~!!!!) when we were making our way out of the door to take a look at the situation. Not knowing any facts at the time, except that the fire brigade was there but barely enough water to wet the floor with….
To say we were worried was the understatement of the year. A close friend of dad’s just rented a tiny part of the unit (the unused stairs) to set up a little business selling mobile stuff and the opening was supposed to be today. We rushed towards the scene (delayed by the huge amount of traffic and people who were also there…. just to watch as well as some very worried owners not unlike us)Even before reaching the near vicinity, I could see a bright orangey glow in the distance. (that sight was not particularly hope inducing….) Parking the car as close was we could, we all but ran towards our side of the block. The sight was really foreboding….. the whole thing looked to be engulfed in flames…. i could see the fire leaping up and copious amount of chokingly thick black smoke. Sparks were flying up everywhere, being blown around by the wind. Sudden periodical bursts of minor explosions within the shops sent forth extra amounts of smoke, sparks and ashes. The smell of burning wood was intense….
There was a crowd all around the area. Looking at the at-the-time inferno, we saw that the majority of the block was already up in flames (just about 7pm) save our little unit where the firemen were squirting nearly insignificant amounts of water onto. All we could do was to cross out fingers and hope that the fire hasn’t and won’t breach this final little unit.
We managed to locate dad’s friend and family (the son’s first business, that…) amongst the mayhem, thank god for mobiles…..They told us that they had been there for the past hour. According to them, at around 6.15 when the fire was still at a manageble rate, the owners had been frantically moving some of the stuff they could salvage from the fire. At the same time, a lot of people (illegal immagrants, maybe?) were using this ‘opportunity’ to strick during this confusion to carry off some of the stuff…… We were told even fridges were carried off running by Lord knows who…… damnit, those bloody *(%#($#))#&_#&@_$…..
After around an hour of standing there looking and hoping and walking about trying to locate the other tenants of the unit, the fire was at last, under control. We managed to find all 3 of the tenants and stayed togather trying to gather some information about the situation from the police who were standing around there at the time.
When the fire died down, dad’s friend managed to get the police to let them into their little corner to retrive their stock in case someone would try to break in later that night (happens all too often….) Miracle upon miracle, even the second floor of the unit wasn’t burnt except for the roof…. some places were a bit wet due to the spitting hoses…. but nothing huge, much to the relief of QPS (major tenant of ours…) I was soooo happy for the 3. Ken hing furniture shop was not given access into their side of the unit as theirs was right on the border of the fire and might not even be stable (not to mention the heat) but outside inspection of it was that it was all intact. Thank god….
Had to go to the police station right after to report, but was told to come back again when we know amount of damage on our side. Used the time there to call mom’s sisters to update them on the information as well.
Arrived home at around 10 that night.
Sad for the others, but relieved and happy (selfishly so) to see that our shop was saved and our tenants had relatively no losses during this fire. Thank goodness no one was hurt during this incident…..
A miracle….. well and truely one…. at least, it was for the few of us……
