fire! fire!

ok as i mentioned in my post earlier, there was a fire in the block of flats where i was staying. it happened on 3 jan. (wed.) 9.20am… about 1 1/2 hr. just after i left home for work.

the unit that caught fire was just next to our unit! the block where we were staying has 4 levels and each level has 12 units – 6 units on one side and 6 on the other. when the fire happened, only my mum was at home. she said she was watching tv and didn’t even realise there was a fire until our neighbour (on our right – the one that caught fire was on our left) alerted her. (btw, this neighbour, her name was mentioned in the paper, in which she said she shouted ‘api’ and ‘hoy seo’).

my mum said after she had went out of the block and was downstairs, she saw the flames so huge leaping away and thick black smoke spewing out. she was so scared and she kept praying that the fire would not spread to our unit, and that the fire engine would come fast.

when my sister and i returned home from work (about 6.30pm), we saw the extend of the damage caused by the fire. it was indeed a close call as the fire did spread to the wall that separate our unit from the burned unit – luckily there was a staircase between our unit and the burned unit. the stairs and floor were still wet and there were black soot all over. since the electrical cables were also burnt, thus electricity was cut off at all the units at our level. (thank god, electricity was restored yesterday).

how did the fire started? it was stared by the man (who died) himself! why? we are not sure of course but first a little background into this man who died in the fire. you see, this man was quite a problematic man being that most of the time he was drunk, and he would shout and sing aloud most of the time when he was drunk. he would also hurled or banged furnitures here and there (we could hear the loud sounds).

it seemed that on the morning before the fire happened, when his wife was going out for work, he asked his wife for some money but his wife refused to give it to him. maybe he was disappointed or sad, and started the fire. now, whether did he try to escape, or did he not want to escape, we wouldn’t know of course. his body was found in the bathroom so the speculation was that he did try to escape but maybe being in a drunken/sad (again this is speculation only) state, he was dazed and didn’t know how to escape and got into the bathroom to hide.

well whatever it is, we’ll just let it be as it had happened. although i was not present when the fire happened, i can feel the excitement when my mum related it to me. when i came home (about 8 hrs after the fire), i could see dark black marks on the wall, lots of ashes on the stairs and floor, and the smell was still there. the unit was completely burned down with nothing left. i should have taken a photo of the burned unit eh. ok maybe i will.

anyway i’m thankful to god that the fire did not spread to our unit or to the other units, endangering the lives of others. may the soul of this perished man rest in peace.