IT'S hard to imagine how something so small could have stopped the 42-storey-high Singapore Flyer, which dominates the Marina Bay skyline.
It has been known that an electrical fire was the cause of the stoppage last month, which left dozens of people stranded in the capsules for hours.
But what has emerged now is how big, or rather how small, the fire was.
Flyer technician Mohd Salihin Jaafar, who put out the fire on 23 Dec, told The New Paper that the flames were about the size of this reporter's digital camera.
Mr Mohd Salihin, 28, said he extinguished the fire soon after it was discovered, around 5pm, but the damage had been done.
ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: (From left) Mr Sim and Mr Mohd Salihin standing near the Flyer.
Though it was small and brief, the fire had caused enough damage to stall the Flyer. And it took about six hours to get the wheel moving again.
During that time, 173 people were trapped in the capsules and 11 of them were lowered on harnesses and ropes. (See report on facing page.)
Mr Mohd Salihin was the technician on afternoon duty that day. After clocking in at 1pm, he settled into his shift at the operations room. The wheel operator was also in the room.
He watched the computer screens indicating how the wheel was moving, as well as the CCTV camera screens in each of the wheel's 28 capsules.
He said: 'At 4.50pm, one computer screen suddenly flashed with a message saying, 'Inverter Fault'. One or two seconds later, the wheel stopped.'
Mr Mohd Salihin said the inverter, together with another component called a converter, helps to regulate the wheel's speed.
The 165m-tall wheel, which has a diameter of 150m, makes one revolution every 30 minutes.
The puzzled technician followed standard operating procedures, and went to the maintenance deck one floor above to check on the wheel.
He said: 'There were no objects jamming the wheel's drive module. I went back to the operations room but the inverter fault message was still flashing on the computer screen.'
By then, his supervisor, Mr Sim Poh Leong, 44, and the technical manager were also in the room.
After he told them what had happened, the three men went to check the Control Board Room, located near the maintenance office.
The room contains panels and electronic circuits responsible for the operation of the wheel.
Mr Mohd Salihin said: 'On the way there, there was a strong smell like plastic melting, which became stronger as we approached the room.
'When I opened the door, thick white smoke came out and we all started coughing.'
Mr Mohd Salihin, who did his National Service as an SCDF firefighter, quickly closed the door.
He then carefully opened the door and took a dry powder fire extinguisher near the door, and they went in. Mr Sim, who was in front, opened the door of each circuit panel. Mr Mohd Salihin was behind him, ready to put out the fire with the extinguisher.
Mr Mohd Salihin said: 'Mr Sim opened one of the panels near the back door and we saw the fire. I told the men that dry powder was the best method to extinguish electrical fires and they agreed.'
After putting out the fire, they checked the other panels for signs of fire but found none.
According to protocol, they then opened the three doors in the room to dissipate the smoke. It took nearly 45 minutes for the smoke to clear.
Mr Sim said he called the wheel contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to report what had happened.
Mr Mohd Salihin said: 'After the smoke cleared, we returned to the operations room. The computer screens showed the wheel's electricity supply and connections were all okay but the wheel was still not moving, and the inverter fault message was still there.
'I pressed a button two or three times to switch to manual override but that did not work.'
The Mitsubishi team had arrived by then and it did its own troubleshooting.
Major fault
The Flyer's operations vice-president, Mr Yazed Osman, said that as soon as the wheel stopped, announcements were made to inform passengers and updates were given every half-hour.
Mr Mohd Salihin said: 'I did not pay much attention to the trapped passengers, but some of them were smiling and jumping.'
He said the Mitsubishi team communicated with him and the others in the operations room via walkie talkie to check on the wheel's electricity supply, and try to revert to manual mode, but this did not work.
'I felt so frustrated that the manual mode did not work. The (Mitsubishi) staff said it was a major fault and they did not know how long it would take before the wheel would resume turning. I then used the walkie talkie to tell the Singapore Flyer management and they decided to call in the rescue team.'
Mr Mohd Salihin and Mr Sim left for home only at 2.30am the next day.
When asked if he felt scared that day or like a hero for putting out the fire, he said he was calm as he had been prepared for such a situation.
He added: 'I am no hero. I just did my job.'
This article was first published in The New Paper on Jan 9, 2009.
