A Facebook user, Irene Lim, recounted her experience of the viral incident of the boy who played with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it into the eyes of other kids, of whom her children were also affected.
Here is what she said
22 May 2022. A day that ended badly, with inconsiderate fellow diners and an irresponsible dining establishment. The latter, an established one at that @Burger King Coastal PlayGrove.
Being a weekend, and after supplementary classes for 3 children, 2 families decided to bring the children to the water themed playground at Coastal PlayGrove in the evening.
The kids had fun. And we decided to head for dinner at around 6.50pm. We were contemplating MacDonald’s, but decided to go with Burger King due to proximity and lesser crowd. It would be hard getting a table at Mac for 8 (me and husband, our 23-month old twins, my parents, and nephew and his mum aka my sister-in-law, JoAnne Reis Lim
Bad decision. We reached Burger King at 6.55pm and made our order by 7pm. It was a long weight – even as the crowd is nothing compared to what we would experience at Mac during peak periods. 7.15pm.
Joanne and myself were at the counter waiting for our order and we heard a loud bang (as if there were an explosion. There was suddenly a lot of white and powdery smoke coming from the left side of where we were standing ( where my parents and the children were seated)
I thought someone started a fire and quickly rushed back to the table. Turned out to be a fire extinguisher activated by an Indian boy, estimated to be ~ 10 – 12 years of age.
Sitting immediately beside the extinguisher were my mum, older twin girl, and nephew. Mind you, the nozzle of the extinguisher was facing them.
Unsurprisingly, the white smoke affected my older girl and nephew. My girl, who just started talking proper words barely a month ago, was mumbling “itchy itchy” while rubbing her eyes.
My nephew was rubbing his eye frantically and his eye turned red. I shouted loudly to ask my SIL to quickly bring him to a washroom to rinse his eye.
I started to fumble abit cos my mum told me Averie complained her eye were itchy. The 2 adult males from the neighbouring table from where the Indian boy was sat, walked over and said his boy was mischievous but that this was a small matter. And the were attempting to leave the restaurant.
From fumbling, I became surprised and subsequently angry. That they kept harping that this incident was a small matter was not helping.
Given their attitude and because 2 children were affected, I called the police at 7.30pm.
Another milestone of the incident. That was a good 20 minutes after the extinguisher was activated by the Indian boy. No staff came to assist us. Angrily, I went to the counter and shouted for the manager to come out.
My husband chided the manager for taking that long to step forward. Another surprise I got: “the manager exclaimed that the restaurant was facing a long queue and cannot render us assistance.
Moreover, the safety pin was missing and hence not the restaurant’s fault.”
I was glad my hubby responded that Burger King, being the premise owner, should ensure the fire extinguisher is secured so that it could not be abused. @SDCF Totally made sense.
After he learnt that I had called the police, he said nothing he can do. He went back to the kitchen.
He didn’t even bother to offer us any help, assistance, any medication attention.
He didn’t even check on the children or my mum.
Police and paramedics soon arrived.
The paramedics did some preliminary checks and brought Isaac up onto the ambulance to wash down his eye again. They then advised us to monitor the children over the next 2 days for reactions from the extinguisher’s chemical agents while the police took our statements separately.
Up to this point, no assistance were given to us by any of the Burger King manager and their staff I asked the manager to give us some warm water for the children, he did not follow up. It was like the whole incident has nothing to do with them, the premise owner.
Instead of dining in, we asked for to-go.
And we only managed to have our dinner at 9ish.
And guess what? We were shortchanged for this > $90 order. 1 cup of tea, 1 cup of coke float, 1 icecream, 1 cheese fries and 1 fried fries were missing.
What a day. Inconsiderate diners who did not take care of their children and their conduct. An irresponsible dining establishment that deprioritise patron’s safety and well being. Imagine a misused and empty fire extinguisher during a fire incident. Enough said…
Head over to my IG @pillowlim to see those video
Part 2
I would also like to share more about my family’s experience and interaction with this particular Burger King outlet at Coastal PlayGroove.
On top of the duty manager’s reaction shared in my previous post, I should also share my conversation with him.
While we were waiting for the police to arrive on scene, I noticed new diners moving into and seating in the same affected area. I suggested to that the duty manager may want to cordon off the area to preserve diners’ health and well-being. Clearly, because the powdery dust or residue were still “flying and settling down” in the air especially at the area that we were seated. We know, while fire extinguisher powder is non-toxic, it is not entirely safe, right?
I received a classic response – that the Burger King outlet is on experiencing long queue at the moment. I am inclined to think the higher load makes it even more important to cordon the affected area. Clearly, my suggestion fell on deaf ears.
Simply, the duty manage told me; “There is nothing I do or to stop these people from sitting down here.. “
I go on to ask him, if there is any Senior Manager can assist us or help with the situation. His reply in one word, ” No”. I asked the duly manager for the Senior Manager cellphone, and he told me; ” even if you call him now there is nothing he can do, cos he is having his vacation in another country”
I went on to ask for BK SG HQ number. Unwillingly, he told me, ” You can try calling this number 66364592 tomorrow”
And immediately, he told us there were huge orders in the kitchen and he really need to go back to the kitchen. I just couldn’t react to it at that instant.
Then, there was my request to the duty manager for the restaurant to provide warm water to the kids, since they would have inhaled the powdered chemical agents, toxic or not. Similarly, fell on deaf ear.
Me and my family have to fend for ourselves for an incident that happened in the restaurant’s premise that happened in the first place because they failed to ensure the extinguisher was secured.
A restaurant that does not take due diligence to safeguard the well-being of their diners. Decide for yourself.
@kakading hope they can settle amicably#peaceandlove ♬ original sound – kakading 卡卡叮