HE was feeding his baby just before 5am when he heard shouts from below his block.
Mr Mohamed Johari (in long pants) helping another motorbike owner assess the damage to his vehicle. The fire also damaged the surrounding bikes. Picture: Zaihan Mohamed Yusof
The 49-year-old man, who gave his name only as Mr Lee, peered downstairs from his third-storey window at Block 4, Beach Road.
What he initially thought was an argument among drunkards developed into something more serious: A fire was raging at a motorcycle parking lot.
Mr Lee recalled: 'I looked outside my window but couldn't see the people who were shouting.
'I only noticed a tall, young man in a red T-shirt standing near the parked motorcycles.
'Minutes later, the motorcycle he was standing beside caught fire. The fire spread so quickly that I couldn't see what had happened to the man.
'He must have panicked and tried to put out the fire on his clothes.'
The commotion woke his whole family, and when the 'popping sound' from the exploding fuel tanks got louder, Mr Lee began to collect his family's passports and some belongings.
His family was ready to flee in case the fire spread to their block.
Said Mr Lee: 'I was afraid that the fire would spread to a pile of cut branches and leaves near the motorbikes, and then to my block.
'Luckily there was no wind blowing and the SCDF came before things got out of hand. The smell of burnt rubber was very strong.'
Four motorcyles were destroyed. Another eight were damaged.
A resident of Block 5, Mr Mohamed Johari, 35, said he was woken by a neighbour.
The neighbour, a woman in her 50s, had told Mr Mohamed that his motorcycle was on fire.
She was making her way to a hawker centre when she saw the fire.
She also said that she saw a young man frantically trying to put out the flames on his body.
Said Mr Mohamed in Malay: 'When the flames were put out, the man's clothes were tattered and his skin was covered with blisters, said my neighbour.
'He was really in pain from the look on his face. Those who saw him said he was not a resident of the area.'
Police said a man in his 20s, owner of one of the parked motorcycles, suffered second-degree burns.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said they received a call about the blaze around 5am.
Six minutes later, the first of two fire bikes arrived, followed by two fire engines and an ambulance.
SCDF officers put the fire out after five minutes.
The motorbike owner suffered burns to his hands, face and legs, and was taken to the burns unit at Singapore General Hospital.
On the ground near the four motorbikes were melted bits of rubber and plastic.
Residents who later saw the charred motorcycles pointed out what appeared to be a trail of blood from the motorcycle lots to a multi-purpose hall nearby.
It was not clear if this was left by the injured man.
Around 1pm, a cleaner was seen mopping away the stains.
None of the residents The New Paper spoke to knew how the fire had started.
The cause of the fire is being investigated by both the police and SCDF.
For Mr Mohamed, whose 400cc Honda was damaged, the fire will certainly disrupt his daily routine.
As a despatch rider, he depends on his motorbike to make deliveries.
He figures it will need repairs of at least $1,000, and he will have to shell out at least some of it.
Said Mr Mohamed: 'After the fire, I still had to go to work and make my deliveries by MRT.
'I don't know how I'm going to cope without my bike.
'It's just my bad luck.'
taken :
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...37723,00.html?
Man badly burnt as motorbikes go up in flames 
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