SINGAPORE – When Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ahmad Khusairi Juraimi noticed smoke coming from a Housing Board block near the Bedok Police Division, where he is based, he immediately ran to the scene.
A personal mobility device, which was left outside the National Kidney Foundation dialysis centre in Bedok North Avenue 4, was on fire. Inside the centre were patients, including some who were bedridden.
Together with a colleague who also saw the smoke, ASP Ahmad, 58, evacuated over four dialysis patients, including a few who had to be wheeled out in their beds.
“Many of the patients were bedridden. It took four or five trips to move them all to a badminton court (behind the centre).”
“I tried to evacuate as many people as possible in the shortest period of time. It took about 20 minutes,” said the 40-year veteran of the police force, who is currently a senior training officer.
For his actions, ASP Ahmad received the high commendation award during the 2023 Commissioner of Police Commendation Ceremony last Friday.
ASP Ahmad was one of 12 officers to receive the award.
The incident happened on Nov 15, 2022, at around 4pm.
ASP Ahmad was at the rear gate of the police station when he saw smoke coming from an HDB block about 100m away.
“It just appeared to me that something wasn’t right. It was from the void deck, so it couldn’t have been fumigation,” he said.
When he rushed over with his colleague from the station, he found the dialysis centre filled with thick smoke.
“Our mission as police officers is to protect life and property. When we noticed the fire, it was natural that our priority would be to save lives,” he said.
Together with staff of the dialysis centre, the officer evacuated the patients to the nearby open-air badminton court behind the HDB block while his colleague used a water hose to fight the fire.
As ASP Ahmad checked on the patients, a crowd of about 30 onlookers began to gather near the dialysis centre.
Officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force arrived a few minutes later. As a result of his actions, no one was injured in the incident, said the police.
“We were just very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time,” he said.
ASP Ahmad hopes he can inspire younger police officers.
“Hopefully the younger officers will see us old men (responding to this incident) and think to themselves, ‘If they can do it, why can’t I?’” he said, laughing.
A total of nine individual, 11 team and three high commendation awards were given out last Friday to police officers in recognition of their exceptional work, service and leadership in 2022.
