You were on your way home when you saw thick black smoke coming from a house.
It was a warm and humid day. According to the weather forecast, it should be raining but there was no sign of clouds at all! I trudged home with my heavy school bag.
As I passed by a block of flats, I thought I smelled something bad. It was an acrid smell. I knew there must be a fire somewhere. I looked around and to my horror; I saw thick black smoke coming out from a house! Orange flames could be seen too.
For a moment, I stood there rooted to the ground as I did not know what to do. Just then, a man walked past and I alerted him to the fire. He was much faster in his reaction. He dug into his pockets, took out his mobile phone, and called for the fire brigade. Both of us stood there, watching as the smoke rose to the sky, creating a thick black cloud overhead.
Slowly, many residents living around the unit sensed the heat and smell and were soon poking their heads out of the window to see what was happening. Many were shocked by the sight. A crowd was also beginning to gather. I hoped that no one would be injured and also hoped that the firemen would arrive very soon.
Within minutes, the familiar sound of the wailing of sirens resonated in the air. A fire engine pulled to a halt and firefighters wasted no time in getting on to the task. They sprayed powerful jets of water at the burning inferno and in a few moments, the fire was put out. The crowd applauded and cheered.
A woman came running to the crowd and she let out a scream of despair. “My house!” she screamed. We realised that she was the owner of the flat and we also found out that she had left a pot of soup boiling on the stove and had gone to the market to buy something. She raced to her unit, with the firefighters right behind her. They had to stop her from entering the flat until it was declared safe.
As the crowd slowly trickled away, I also headed home. I found myself drenched in my perspiration. As! Walked home, I thought the woman had been very careless to have left her soup boiling. “Fire is a good servant but a bad master,” how true!
