Endoh’s Dungeon

Until today, the Singapore Refinery Company fire on Pulau Merlimau in 1988 is Singapore’s longest fire ever documented. It lasted for a whopping 4 days and chilled many spines of Singaporeans. It seemed weird to be talking about this fire, I know. It was the fire that destroyed a Woodlands factory a few days ago which aroused memories of Pulau Merlimau fire.

Pulau Merlimau is now a part of Jurong Islands. For those in the later generations, some probably didn’t even know Singapore had such a big fire to battle. I am sure however, the older generations will remember the incident pretty clearly, especially after the collapse of Hotel New World in 1986.

I began to recall the very first day of the fire. I was staying at Block 512, Jurong West Street 52. That’s like, directly opposite Rulang Primary School. Behind my place, was the old Jurong Police Station which is now vacated. MRT was a very new development in Jurong in those times too. Chinese Garden was one of the “big thang” as well, like Haw Par Villa.

For a while I thought a massive rainstorm was approaching. I was only a primary school kid, so I could only relate the blood-red sky to those we commonly see on rainy nights. I also remembered I was staring into the sky for a long time, because I had the privilege of staying on the high floors. I was staying on the 10th storey, to be exact. It wasn’t just a small patch of redness, but the entire sky outlining the rooftop of the opposite block.

Back in those days, television broadcasting wasn’t available 24hrs. Do you remember that big round clock or color test screen after 12 midnight? That’s pretty much what Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) delivered in those days. It was not before the next morning that Singaporeans (especially those in Boon Lay, Jurong and Clementi etc) caught the first news that reported the fire.

I think this is one of the few moments that Singaporeans really went… OH MY GOD!

Well, it kept everyone gripped to the chairs. For those who watched the news from the public TV at community centres, you can actually hear them mumbling among themselves. For me as a kid, it’s pretty interesting. That was the first time in my life that I have known of a fire that is so furious and devastating, that it literally lit up the entire skyline.

Second night, the sky was still blood-red. The news now carried latest footages of the fire, and all of us can see the fire consuming the huge tanks of chemicals on screen. Once in a while, I heard sirens in the far background. I assumed those fire trucks are rushing to the scene to continue the fight, although I couldn’t really see the main road which Lakeside MRT Station is situated. Hell, the condo you see today is not even there in my times. That was a field which I used to play football.

The following days were chaos, with Singaporeans wanting to know about the air quality and if it would turn into a second disaster - air pollution. I only remembered my mum was one of those freak-out people, shutting all the windows 24hrs a day. She kept me away from the windows always saying we will never know what’s in the air we breathed, but ironically kept pushing me out of home to school. DOUBLE STANDARD!!! Hahaha…!

For days, we kept hearing sirens speeding from one end to another. Even when we went to the wet market just beside the new community centre you see today, it became a big talking point between all the nosey aunties. In school, everyone started boasting what we saw… wah this… wah that…! Tsk tsk tsk. Everything is big news in those days.

Sorry, I couldn’t find any archive pictures of the fire. I can only described with words now.

Strangely, this incident has never inspired me enough for me to yearn to be a firefighter. I was merely a spectator.