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At about 7.10pm on 3 August 2026, thick smoke poured through a residential block along Race Course Road as a fire broke out. Inside the unit, five residents aged between 55 and 88 were trapped as the fire raged.
Responding without hesitation, Ground Response Force (GRF) officers Sgt Mohamed Rafhan Bin Mohamed Abdul Kader and Sgt Muhammad Afiq Bin Mohamed Israq forced their way into the flat and brought a trapped resident to safety. Here's what happened that night.
Racing against Time
When the officers from Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre reached the scene, they were met with a towering column of thick, black smoke billowing from a fifth-floor unit.
The officers began assisting with the evacuation of residents when they spotted a 78-year-old woman standing behind the gate of her unit. They later learnt that she was visually impaired.
Startled by the fire and unable to make her way out on her own, she was trapped as smoke filled the corridor.
“I remembered black smoke coming out of the unit and I kept telling the elderly woman to get down so she could breathe better,” Sgt Rafhan said.
Determined to reach the elderly woman, Sgt Rafhan struck the unit’s window repeatedly with his baton until the glass shattered. However, there was another obstacle – a metal grille stood between them and the trapped resident.
The Next Move
With no other option, Sgt Afiq summoned his resolve: “I was determined to rescue her by whatever means necessary.”
By then, thick black smoke had engulfed the corridor, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. Despite the metal gate heating up from the fire, Sgt Afiq pulled at it repeatedly with his bare hands until the lock broke open.
“I didn’t even know if I could break the gate but I had to try; I just kept tugging at it,” Sgt Afiq recounted.
When both officers got to the elderly woman, they found her face stained with soot. Supporting her with one arm each, they brought her out of the smoke-engulfed unit and away from danger.
Since the fire had not spread beyond the unit and the lift was still operational, Sgt Afiq lifted the woman into his arms before they took the lift down to the first floor, where they handed her over to Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) paramedics for emergency treatment.
The two officers then established a cordon around the block and continued assisting with ground operations alongside other responders.
Their Life Mission
When asked if there was anything that they’d have done differently, Sgt Afiq said, “Every action we took was driven by our commitment to ensuring the victim’s safety. What mattered most was bringing her to safety.”
While every shift brings a different challenge, both Sgt Rafhan and Sgt Afiq share the same commitment to saving lives and helping others.
