SINGAPORE — The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will be holding a ceremonial funeral to honour the 19-year-old full-time national serviceman (NSF), Corporal Edward Go, who died during the firefighting operation at a Henderson Road flat on Thursday (8 Dec).
SCDF, in a press statement on Friday, said that the funeral is held with the agreement of the family and that the NSF was its first firefighter to have died during an operation.
“SCDF is deeply saddened by the death of CPL Edward. He is our first colleague to have fallen during an operation. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, and are providing them with our fullest support,” said the statement.
SCDF is also suspending its weekly open house for its fire stations and temporarily closing the Civil Heritage Gallery and Emergency Preparedness Centre on Saturday (10 Dec)
In an earlier statement by SCDF, a response team was dispatched to attend to a fire in an HDB unit at 91 Henderson Road at about 11.10 am on Thursday.
CPL Go, who was part of the first response crew, donning breathing apparatus, entered and pushed through the smoke-logged unit with two water jets to engage the fire.
The fire was so intense that the metal gate at the unit had melted.
At one point during the operation, CPL Go fell unconscious in the kitchen and was taken out of the unit, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was administered.
An SCDF ambulance crew member also used an automated external defibrillator on him and he was taken to Singapore General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In its statement on Friday, SCDF also detailed CPL Go’s training, adding that he had responded to more than 20 fire and rescue incidents after completing his firefighter course.
CPL Go enlisted with SCDF to serve his National Service on 5 January and began his 12 weeks of training as a firefighter on 3 February.
The NSF completed his training on 28 April and was posted to Central Fire Station on 4 May after completing his firefighter course.
CPL Go was certified medically fit and assessed to be of Physical Employment Standards (PES) A.
“SCDF frontline units comprise regulars, NSFs and Operationally Ready National Servicemen (ORNSmen), all of whom are trained to carry out roles as rota commanders, section commanders or firefighters,” said SCDF.
“In a fire or rescue emergency, officers of these vocations form a composite crew to respond to the incident.”
All the training for those different roles and responsibilities is carried out centrally at the Civil Defence Academy through various firefighting and rescue courses, said the SCDF.
Straits Times reported that the family living in the flat that caught fire had offered its condolences to the family of CPL Go.
CPL Go’s body was collected by his mother the following morning.
The mother, who was dressed in white, was visibly distraught and told Lianhe Zaobao’s reporter that she was utterly heartbroken and the pain of losing her son has brought her to the point of collapse.