Fire at a Block of Flats

Setting: HDB estate

Plot: a fire broke out at a block of flats

Technique: imagery

Example: Spewing smoke and sparks, Block Eight had a captivated throng. Upturned faces, warm and red as tomatoes in the sun, watched intently as the Civil Defence officer rode the creaky, extending ladder to the window.

The victim, an elderly woman, flailed one frail arm at him. Her other arm cradled a bulky box and this she thrust at the officer when he finally reached her.

A bit of pushing and shoving ensued. The box was repeatedly passed between the two. Clearly, the officer was worried about jeopardising the operation by rescuing both the woman and the box.

The acrid air thickened with anticipation.

Suddenly, the box tipped over and the lid sprung open. A light shower of gold trinkets fell out to the crowd below. At once, a collective “aah” escaped from everyone’s throats like froth.

Fire Incident

Setting: home

Plot: a fire broke out outside a flat

Technique: foreshadowing

Example: My mother clucked her tongue impatiently. “Come on, Richard!” she urged. “I don’t want to miss the opening scene! Oh, what’s that man doing?”

My father emerged from the bedroom, looking visibly relieved. “Found them!” he declared, waving a pair of theatre tickets. He bolted out of the flat and clumsily crashed into the piles of newspapers that my mother had stacked in the corridor for the rag and bone man. “Aargh! Stupid papers!” he grumbled bitterly as they entered the lift. “They’ll kill someone one day!”

Fire at a Supermarket

Setting: supermarket

Plot: fire

Technique: twist

Example: Leonard tugged at his father’s sleeve. “Dad, do you smell smoke?” he asked with an uncertain frown. His father sniffed the air a few times and detected a faint trace of smoke too. Puzzled, they looked around the supermarket searchingly. Then, Leonard cried, “There! On the ceiling!” and pointed towards the aisle carrying household items. Uncurling from the ceiling boards like long fingers were wisps of smoke. Quickly, Leonard’s father raised the alarm with a staff member who was stacking cans of lychee on a shelf. The busy girl lifted her gaze briefly and tutted with irritation. “Would you mind telling my manager about it? Thanks,” was her abrupt reply before she returned to her work.