'Her feet were stuck to the ground...' female firefighter describes chaos in hot zone

SUBANG JAYA: "Please, ma'am, please check the house at the end, there's someone inside...

" was the cry that still haunts the first firefighter to arrive at the scene of the gas pipeline fire in Putra Heights here on April 1.Recalling the experience, Selangor Zone 2 office assistant fire officer Muzdiean Haiza Muhamad said she and her team arrived at 8.40am after receiving an emergency call at 8.



10am."When I arrived, the Fire Control Centre and other agencies had not yet arrived; only personnel from Petronas and firefighters from Puchong and Sembawang Jaya fire stations were present."The situation was chaotic, with trees and houses still burning and victims crawling out in pain.

It was so emotional, it felt as though we were in a war zone," she said at the Incident Command Post today.Muzdiean said she tried to calm all the victims as she was the only female firefighter present."Some victims didn't want to leave their homes while the fire was raging because they were trying to save their belongings.

"But I told them the heat was too intense and the fire could spread at any time," she said.She also mentioned that during the incident, there was a couple who were afraid to leave their house due to severe anxiety."At that time, the husband tried to persuade his wife to leave, but she refused.

When the fire grew larger and the heat became unbearable, she ran out without considering what was outside. "As a result, both the soles of her feet were severely burned and stuck to the ground."My emotions were mixed at that moment.

I imagined, if this happened to our own family, how would we feel? So I tried to comfort them as if they were my own family," she said.Muzdiean said she and her team managed to rescue 37 people from the Taman Putera Harmoni residential area."We evacuated them according to the fire rescue procedures.

The courage to enter that hot zone didn't come from force. It came from within, when everyone was running out, we went in."Who else would rescue the victims if not us? This is not about compulsion, but about responsibility, humanity and compassion.

"This is my first experience facing such a large-scale disaster. It was heartbreaking, but I feel proud to have been part of the team that helped the victims," she said.© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd.