4 houses badly damaged in late-night blaze in East Coast Road

Mr Christopher Pang was leaving home for supper with his friend on Monday night when he saw a bright orange glow at the second storey of a house two doors away.

- Shermaine Ang

He soon realised the house was on fire, and the flames were spreading fast.

He told his friend to wake his two teenage sons, mother-in-law and other residents, then ran to the burning house and called on the elderly brother-sister pair inside to stop packing their valuables and unlock their gate.

Together with another neighbour, they tried to douse the fire with garden hoses for about five minutes before the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived.

"I was just focused on putting out the fire, first and foremost, to prevent injuries," he said.

The blaze spread to three other homes, including Mr Pang's house at 12S East Coast Road. It raged on for two hours before it was extinguished by SCDF firefighters.

Looking on as the flames crept towards his house, Mr Pang said he felt helpless.

His son Michael said he went to bed at about 11pm and was awakened by the acrid smell of smoke.

The 18-year-old woke his younger brother and maternal grandmother, who was visiting from Penang, and got them out of the house safely.

His paternal grandparents, mother and elder brother, who also live in the house, were not around at the time his mother is overseas and his brother is serving national service. His paternal grandparents returned from work at their Western food coffee-shop stall at about lam, after the road was closed off.

Michael said he heard explosions and loud crashes as he evacuated his family and gathered valuables such as his laptop and mobile phone.

"I looked up and the ceiling was red," he said, recounting how the flames had engulfed the top floor of the 21/2-storey house.