Last night, Orchard Towers was lit — not with the usual titillating shenanigans, but quite literally with flames engulfing a bar in the building. The usual news reports revealed that the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was alerted around 8pm to the fire, which involved the contents of a bar top, and firefighters in breathing apparatus sets extinguished the blaze with one waterjet and one compressed air-foam backpack.
About 60 people were evacuated from the premises before SCDF personnel arrived, and no injuries were reported.
All rather standard stuff when it comes to incidents of fires in Singapore. It’s not even the first time a fire broke out at Orchard Towers — the last one happened in August 2017.
No, the best part about this otherwise ordinary story is how Channel NewsAsia noted that “the crowd appeared calm and held on to their drinks as they evacuated from the building”. Because that’s the natural reaction — to grab your alcoholic beverage before you flee for your life.
Of course, eagle-eyed netizens picked up on this “I paid for my drink and I’m gonna enjoy it, dammit” attitude.
After all, in Singapore, the land of expensive liquor, one can never be too careless when it comes to safeguarding your booze.
