Our neighbourhood is a quiet North Petaling Jaya surburbia. It has been in existence since 1977. For the past 30 years, I have lived on this street. Every Sunday morning had always been a lazy day, where the quiet neighbourhood wakes up to the sound of soft birds and whispers in the house. Some devout neighbours prepare to attend church while others do their Sunday grocery/marketing. Some, would play golf. Me, as usual, I'd sleep in. However, today was very different.
The neighbourhood was awaken at 6.00 am to the wailing sound of emergency services vehicles. Two neighbours house caught fire that early in the morning. Three fire engine rushed to ground zulu the moment they received the distress call.
Lucky the occupants managed to evacuate in time. Both homes were made roofless now, top floor. However the ground floor in both homes were spared.
The tragedy gave us a shock. The fire could also happened to us.The missus saw everything, from start to finished. Even when the neighbours gather the remaining belongings, she was there. So, in appreciation of the fire services men, who managed to contain the spread to the whole block, she decided to do something nice for them. As usual, she baked chocolate cakes for the brave firefighters.
As usual, I and Girl-Girl were given the task to deliver the goodies and take them to the respective fire stations. So we went to the Taman Tun Dr. Ismail fire station first. We arrived at six and the officer-in-charge was surprised of our presence in their mundane but high-on-alert station.
Then we went to the SS 2 firestation, which is much closer to our home. We got the same reaction. At both fire stations, the firefighters who saw action early this morning were no longer on duty. Both officers-in-charge promised to make sure the men got their meagre share of the 3 lb cake.
I think the missus want to teach Girl-Girl to appreciate men (and ladies) in essential services like the firefighters, Police and other services. They risk their lives for the comfort of the rest of us.
2 comments:
Zakhir,
Assalamualaikum.
I am sorry to hear about your neighbour's misfortune. Must be a short circuit to the electrical lines. Only such a cause is possible to bring about a fire since the houses are brick houses.
It is a good deed indeed for you to send those cakes to the firemen as a token of appreciation for their effort. I hope the example will be followed by the other neighbours whose house was similarly saved by the firemen.
Dear Zawi,
Prior before we moved into this house in 2002, we had the contractors to redo the entire electrical system; a precaution of buying a 25 year old house.
We also have fire extinguishers; one in the kitchen and one upstairs. There is also a fire hydrant in front of our home.
Its a lesson learned from a friend's nightmarish experience two days before Hari Raya Aidil Fitri.
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