Family Emergency Preparedness In Singapore (Skip The Butter Candle)

You never know when you might need to create an emergency candle. Watch this video and learn this simple life skill that could help you in an emergency situation.

Improvised candles made from butter, a tin of tuna or a crayon circulate endlessly online as emergency tips. They do work, in the sense that they produce a flame.

They’re a bad idea in a home with children, and you almost certainly don’t need them.

An open flame burning cooking oil is a fire risk and a smoke source, in a flat, during exactly the circumstances when you’re distracted and it’s dark. A torch costs a few dollars, lasts for years, and can’t set anything alight.

Singapore’s power supply is among the most reliable in the world and outages are rare and short. The realistic emergencies here are different ones, and those are the ones to prepare for properly.

The household kit

A shoebox in a cupboard everyone knows about. Twenty minutes to assemble, then check it once a year on a date you’ll remember.

A torch for every person, plus spare batteries. Head torches for children: hands free, and they find them fun, not frightening.
A charged power bank. In a modern emergency, a working phone is the single most useful thing you own.
First aid kit, with plasters, gauze, tape, antiseptic, tweezers, a thermometer and children’s paracetamol. Check expiry dates when you check the batteries.
Regular medications: a few days’ worth, including inhalers and any allergy medication.
N95 masks for everyone. Haze is the recurring one here and the shops sell out at exactly the wrong moment.
Water and some non-perishable food. A few days’ worth is ample.
Photocopies of NRICs, passports and birth certificates, plus digital copies somewhere you can reach without your phone.
Some cash in small notes. Card terminals need power.
A whistle: travels far further than a voice, and a child can use one.

Haze

The most likely disruption a Singapore family will face.

Check the PSI and PM2.5 readings on the NEA site or app instead of judging by how it looks.
Children, asthmatics and pregnant women are more vulnerable. Keep outdoor play short or indoors when readings climb.
N95 masks work; surgical masks don’t for haze particles. Fit is important, and standard N95s don’t fit small children well. For young children, that means staying indoors, not a loose mask.
Keep windows shut, run the air-conditioning, and an air purifier if you have one.
Watch for wheezing or coughing in an asthmatic child and have the inhaler where you can find it.

Fire in the block

This one has a counter-intuitive answer that’s worth knowing before you need it.

If the fire is in your flat, get everyone out, close the door behind you, use the stairs, and call 995 from outside.
If the fire is elsewhere in the block and the corridor is smoky, staying put is usually safer than running through smoke. HDB flats are concrete compartments. Close your door, seal the gap at the bottom with wet cloth, go to a window where you can be seen, and call 995 to say exactly where you are.
Never use the lift.
Fit a smoke alarm if your flat doesn’t have one. They’re required in newer and renovated homes, and cheap to add otherwise.
Sleep with bedroom doors closed. A closed door dramatically slows smoke and heat, and it’s free.

What to teach the children

Their home address and a parent’s phone number, memorised. Practise as a game until it’s automatic.
995 for fire and ambulance, 999 for police. And that a phone can call these even when locked.
If lost: stay where you are and find a staff member, a shopkeeper or a parent with children. Wandering to look for you is what turns a two-minute problem into an hour.
A family password. If anyone ever says they’ve been sent to collect them, they must know the word. Choose something memorable and never use it for anything else.
Two ways out of the flat, and a meeting point downstairs.
Never hide. Under beds and in cupboards is what frightened children do, and it’s what makes them hard to find.
Walk it through once on an ordinary afternoon. Not a drill that frightens them, just a walk-through.

Apps and numbers for your phone

SGSecure: alerts and reporting
myResponder (SCDF): alerts trained bystanders to nearby cardiac arrests and fires
The NEA app for PSI and dengue clusters
995 for fire and ambulance, 999 police, 1777 for a non-emergency ambulance
Learn the Public Warning System signals. The sirens are tested periodically and mean specific things; most residents have never looked them up.

Frequently asked questions

Should I make emergency candles from butter or tuna?

No. They produce a flame, but an open flame burning cooking oil in a flat with children, in the dark, while you’re distracted, is a fire and smoke risk for no benefit. A torch costs a few dollars, lasts years, and can’t set anything alight. Singapore’s power supply is highly reliable and outages are rare and brief.

What should be in a family emergency kit in Singapore?

A torch each with spare batteries, a charged power bank, a first aid kit with children’s paracetamol and a thermometer, a few days of regular medications including inhalers, N95 masks, water and non-perishable food, photocopies of identity documents, small notes in cash, and a whistle. Check it once a year.

What should we do during haze?

Check the PSI and PM2.5 readings instead of judging by appearance, keep windows shut and the air-conditioning running, and shorten outdoor play. N95 masks work and surgical masks don’t, but standard N95s don’t fit young children properly, so for them it’s staying indoors, not a loose mask.

What should I do if there’s a fire in my HDB block?

If it’s in your flat, get everyone out, close the door behind you, use the stairs, and call 995 from outside. If it’s elsewhere and the corridor is smoky, staying put is usually safer than running through smoke: close your door, seal the gap at the bottom with wet cloth, go to a window where you can be seen, and call 995 with your exact location. Never use the lift.

What should my child know in an emergency?

Their home address and a parent’s number by heart, that 995 is fire and ambulance and 999 is police, that if lost they should stay put and find a staff member or a parent with children, and a family password that anyone claiming to collect them must know. Also: never hide.

What apps should Singapore families have?

SGSecure for alerts, myResponder from SCDF, and the NEA app for PSI and dengue clusters. Learn what the Public Warning System sirens mean too. Most residents have never looked them up.

What to do

Buy torches, not improvised candles. The internet trick solves a problem Singapore doesn’t really have and creates a fire risk that it does.

Put a shoebox together: torches, power bank, first aid, medications, N95 masks, documents, cash, a whistle.

Teach them their address, 995 and 999, stay-put-if-lost, and a family password. Then walk the exit route once on a normal afternoon.