20 minutes is all it took for a family in Subang Jaya to lose their home in an aggressive fire attack that started from the air conditioning unit of their house.
Speaking to WORLD OF BUZZ, James (name altered for privacy reasons) said the incident took place at his parents’ home in USJ 20 last Thursday, 15 April at 12pm.
“My girlfriend and I were watching TV in the upstairs bedroom of my house. We were just about to head out for lunch when we smelled something burning.
I assumed it was coming from my ashtray or maybe one of the power sockets burnt out because the power points in my house aren’t very reliable,” James said.
He then realised that the smell was not coming from his room. At that moment, he knew something was wrong.
“When I opened my door, there was black smoke all the way from my chest up to the ceiling. It was really scary.
I ran into my mother’s room, which was right across my room and I saw her whole mattress was on fire. All her cupboards were in flames too. The entire room was on fire,” he added.
James was the first one who noticed that fire had struck their home. He quickly ran downstairs, sounded the alarm and informed his mother that there was a fire emerging from upstairs.
“I quickly took the fire extinguisher and crawled up the stairs, underneath the thick smoke, to put out the fire.
I managed to put it out for a bit. I could see that I put out the flames but the embers were strong,” James said.
James added that his girlfriend quickly rescued his dogs and cats and brought them outside safely while he ran outside to get the rest of his next-door neighbours out.
“My mother called the Fire Department and they came promptly. They were very nice actually. They were great at their job and managed to put out the fire,” he added.
Unfortunately, his home was mostly ruined as the fire had burned down almost everything he owned.
Thanks to the president of the USJ 20 Rukun Tetangga, his family is now staying in a house behind their home that was kindly provided to them
He added that his community helped by donating things such as clothes and food while they settled down.
James shared his story hoping to remind Malaysians of the importance of having a fire escape plan and to improve fire safety in their own homes, such as installing smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
“Smoke detectors and fire exits should be mandatory in every house. Right after the fire broke out in my house, that same night in USJ 19 (the neighborhood directly beside mine) there was a fire that injured one person.
Just yesterday in OUG there was another fire on the top floor of an apartment. Investing some money in a cheap smoke detector and having a fire escape plan will save your life,” James added.
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