SCDF Community Bonding Day 2010

On 10 April 2010, the Civil Defence Academy organised an event called the SCDF Community Bonding Day 2010, specially targeted at the members of the public. It was held at the Civil Defence Academy (CDA), Jalan Bahar, which I attended with my family. It is said that the community bonding day is a fun filled platform where members of the public can get to know more about the life saving skills and pick up valuable emergency skills and knowledge. As a NCDCC cadet myself, I took the time off other activities that day just to visit CDA as I wanted know more about Singapore’s Civil Defence Force.
Upon our arrival, the officers there directed us to collect a goodie bag each before we proceeded to the parade square. There was a WorkPlan Exhibition where we could view exhibits of SCDF’s accomplishments and latest innovations centred on Operational Excellence, Public Protection, Community Preparedness and Organisational Excellence. It showcased exhibits such as the National Civil Defence Cadet Corps (NCDCC), Fire Hazard Management Audit System (FHMAS), Fire Safety for person with disabilities, Civil Defence (CD) shelters, Underground Rock Caverns (CD shelter), Household shelters (HS), Tensile Membrane Action (TMA), Security Sensitive Materials (SSM), SCDF Public Warning System (PWS) and Hazardous Materials (HazMat) and many more. A part of the exhibition which attracted my attention most was the SCDF vehicle display. Some of the vehicles that were displayed were the Fast Response Bikes, Red Rhino 2.0, Media Incident Vehicle (MIV) and the Heavy Rescue Tender (HRT).
After wandering around at the WorkPlan Exhibition, we went to the Adventure Land where we could try the array of fire fighting and rescue equipments. I could not contain my excitement that moment when I got to try my hands on a real Water Mist Gun (WMG) for the very first time! It was definitely heavy but I felt satisfied as I got a chance to put out a fire using the WMG.
Last but not least, we went to the Demo Land where we could witness the spectacular demonstrations of SCDF’s fire fighting, rescue and hazmat capabilities. They showcased scenarios that could possibly happen such as an act of arson, a burning LPG bullet tank and a hazardous chemical leakage, and how they dealt with the different situations. 3 more vehicles were introduced as they were not displayed at the WorkPlan Exhibition. They were the Pump Ladder, Hazmat Mitigation Vehicle (HMV) and the Personal Decontamination Vehicle (PDV). The Pump Ladder uses the roof mountain monitor to release water to put out the fire. The HMV is usually activated to respond to any type of Hazmat incident like the toxic industrial chemical leakage. The PDV plays an important role when there is a hazardous chemical leak as the casualties will have to undergo wet decontamination at the Personal Decontamination Point. The Demo Land had surely given me a better idea of how the SCDF handle such cases of real life scenarios.
I have learnt a lot about SCDF from my visit to the CDA through the community bonding day. I would definitely look forward to more of such events in future.

By: LCP Nur Atirah Bte Amir
Pei Hwa Sec