Lester Cher recently posted on his Facebook after his fast response to a burning smell coming from his car saved his life. The can in question was a BMW and it was still under warranty and still fully serviced by BMW Singapore. They even just did a replacement of a fuse on 4 March 2021.
Here is the full story.
An escape from a burning car on 6 Mar 21 – While driving along BKE towards PIE, I smelt a burning smell from within the car. Initially thinking that it might be coming from the ambient air outside of the car but I soon realised something was amiss when white smoke started coming out from passenger side aircon.
I immediately pulled the car aside to the road shoulder, shutting it down and inspect the vehicle. There was totally no warning light/ messages and the engine was fine. However, the smoking did not cease, it started getting darker and heavier and that was when I suspected that the source of the smoke may be from the fuse box and truly, it was.
As I opened up the lid of the fuse box behind the glove compartment, there was clear audible sparking noises as well as a fire within the fuse box. Without hesitation, I called 995 for help and evacuated to a distance away from the car in fear that it might explode as it happened to a recent unfortunate BMW accident. EMAS turned up at the location very shortly to fight the fire with a portable extinguisher but to no avail. A few minutes later, it grew bigger and very soon the car was totally engulfed by the flames. Eventually, the SCDF arrived and a team of brave firefighters took out the inferno in less than 5mins. No one was hurt from the incident
•Even though shaken and traumatised, I thank God for His protection that I’m still alive to be share this account and to be able to see my loved ones at the end of the day. Thankful for friends that offered support and help or even just dropping a text of concern. Appreciate them very much ◡̈
•P.S. Car was under warranty and still fully serviced by BMW Singapore. They just did a replacement of a fuse on 4 Mar 21, two days before the incident. No mods to car.