A man in Singapore felt that his home in Redhill was too stuffy and worried that his infant daughter would get rashes, he then brought home a second-hand air conditioning unit that his neighbours had discarded to install.
A year later, the air conditioning unit exploded and his two children ended up being injured in the fire.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the incident happened on 27 April at about 3.40 pm at a rental flat at Block 110 Jalan Bukit Merah.
The man, 34-year-old Mr Chen, told SMDN that he is living in the flat with his wife, 8-year-old son and 19-month-old daughter, and moved in about 2 years ago with his wife giving birth shortly after.
They later found out that their infant daughter has sensitive skin and would develop rashes in the environment was too warm.
Chen, who works as a driver, added that they are not financially well off and when a neighbour moved away, he discovered that they had left behind an air conditioning unit.
He then took it back home and installed it.
At the time of the incident, Chen said that his wife and kids were at home at the time when they saw the air conditioning unit spitting out white smoke, and they then immediately escaped from the flat.
Their neighbour. 50-year-old Mr Radif told SMDN that he heard weird noises coming out of the family’s aircon when he left his home and after reaching the void deck, he realised that his neighbour’s home was on fire and he then rushed home because his 77-year-old mother and 2 grandchildren were still at h some.
Radif helped his family escape before trying to help put out the fire, but there was too much smoke and he gave up – his two grandchildren were sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
SCDF confirmed the incident and said that the fire involved an aircon inside the bedroom of an HDB unit, and they put out the fire using a fire extinguisher and sent 2 people to the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
At the time of writing, the cause of the fire is still being investigated.