Responders, partners & volunteers appreciation event 2026 – Speech by Ms Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs

Commissioner Eric Yap,

Our Community Partners and Volunteers,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Appreciating Responders, Partners and Volunteers

1. A very good evening to all of you. It is truly a pleasure to be here with everyone tonight and I want to thank you for the kind invitation. 

2. This evening, we come together to pay tribute to our responders, partners, and volunteers. Whether through lifesaving actions, meaningful collaborative partnerships, and invaluable contributions of your time – each of you have made Singapore safer and stronger – and a Nation of Lifesavers.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Acts

3. Why do we need a Nation of Lifesavers? The answer is simple: even the best emergency services cannot be everywhere all at once. This is where our community responders play a critical role. They are often the first to react, providing crucial assistance in emergencies like cardiac arrests and minor fires, in the critical moments before the SCDF arrives on the scene.

4. Every year, SCDF responds to over 240,000 emergency calls, including fire, rescue, and medical incidents. That’s about 680 calls each day, or almost one every other minute. The SCDF aims to respond to emergency medical calls within 11 minutes. However, the first few minutes of an emergency is crucial, and an empowered member of the public can make a life-saving impact.

5. For example, when someone suffers a cardiac arrest, survival chances drop by 7 to 10% every minute that passes without intervention. But if CPR and an AED were to be applied immediately, survival rates can increase by as much as 50%. That’s the power of early intervention and where community responders can be the difference between life and death.

6. Age is definitely not a limiting factor when it comes to being a community responder. One of our Responders here today, 20-year-old Mr Darryl Lee, has been a faithful contributor to Singapore’s community resilience as one of our top community responders in the past few years. Currently a nursing student, he has answered more than 70 calls via the SCDF's myResponder app since he was 16 years old. I am pleased to share that Darryl is a finalist for The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year award. His story is truly inspiring, and we hope his courageous efforts will inspire more young people to step forward as community responders, and to render assistance in an emergency. We can hear more from our community responders later as they come on stage to share their personal experiences, and I’m certainly looking forward to that too.

7. Community responders can also deliver timely interventions for minor fire incidences. From 2024 to 2025, we saw a 24.1% increase in minor fires attended by community responders from 57.7% to 81.8%. This is a heartening response. What’s even more impressive is that some of these minor fires were extinguished by responders without the need for SCDF’s intervention. These responders have saved lives and protected the property of their neighbours. I would like to share an example. Last November, Mr Mohamed Aminuddin Bin Mohamed Razali received a myResponder notification regarding a fire at a recycling bin at Woodlands. Upon arrival, he retrieved a fire extinguisher from the block lift lobby and successfully extinguished the fire on scene. The Town Council staff took over the case subsequently, and SCDF was not activated. A big kudos to the team.

8. Behind these numbers are real stories and precious lives. Families and livelihoods remain intact today because someone chose to act. When others hear such inspiring stories, they start to believe that they too, can make a difference.

9. The increase in the response rates for fire and cardiac arrests is correlated with the strong growth of the Community Responder pool. As of January 2026, there are more than a quarter of a million Community Responders registered on either the SGSecure and myResponder apps. About 47,000 individuals enrolled within the last year. More are stepping forward to help build a more vigilant, resilient, and cohesive society. We hope that these examples will inspire a continuation of this virtuous cycle.

Thanking Our Partners and Volunteers

10. I would also like to thank our partners and volunteers. Together, we have launched several initiatives that are making a real difference in our community.

11. Let me highlight just two examples.

12. First, the Better Awareness, Safer Homes (BASH) campaign. This joint initiative by the National Fire and Emergency Preparedness Council (NFEC), the SCDF, and the People’s Association will play a vital role in raising fire safety awareness. It encourages individuals to take ownership of fire safety, not just in their own homes but also in public spaces. It empowers communities to protect each other and fosters a collective sense of responsibility. As part of the campaign efforts, SCDF and NFEC have updated the Fire Safety Checklist, and conducted training for Community Emergency and Engagement Committees (C2Es) as well as Town Councils representatives. C2Es will also step up block surveys of common areas to identify HDB estate facilities requiring maintenance via the OneService app.

13. Second, the AED on Buses programme, launched by SCDF in collaboration with Tower Transit in October 2025. This ongoing initiative has equipped buses, particularly in high-population and industrial areas, with AEDs sponsored by the Singapore Heart Foundation. It’s a simple but effective way to strengthen our collective ability to save lives.

14. These collaborations illustrate what we can achieve together as a community. We also hope that more organisations will be inspired by your actions, and step forward as partners of our Responders’ network.

Call-to-Action: Building a Nation of Lifesavers

15. Going forward, SCDF and SSPO (SGSecure Programme Office) are committed to growing our pool of community responders to strengthen our society’s resilience.

16. While it is not necessary to be trained first to become a responder, we strongly encourage everyone to gain skills that could be useful in life-threatening situations. We will continue to put in place free and accessible opportunities for the community to learn lifesaving skills.

17. Aside from formal training through National Service, uniformed groups and educational institutions, members of the public can learn lifesaving skills through the SCDF Responder Plus Programme and various People’s Association courses.

18. For those who are looking for a hands-on introduction, you can do so at Community Resilience Days and Safety and Security Carnivals. These events, organised by the PA and supported by SCDF, gives everyone the chance to learn practical skills, such as using a fire extinguisher and performing CPR. I am also very heartened to see an increase in requests from condominium residents for the conduct of Safety and Security Carnivals and for Responder training, and we will continue to provide strong support to get people trained.

19. SCDF will be launching the 10th Edition of the Civil Defence Emergency Handbook tonight. This new edition will include updated guidelines on fire evacuation, safety measures for Active Mobility Device fires, and other practical tips on how to prepare for emergencies. This is part of our ongoing effort to equip everyone with the knowledge to stay safe.

20. Additionally, SSPO has created a new SGSecure Responders’ Network video to address common concerns about being a responder. We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to understand how they can contribute. Even if you do not have lifesaving skills yet, you can still make important contributions in a crisis – such as being vigilant, reporting incidents to the authorities in a timely way, or combatting misinformation online.

21. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the SGSecure movement. We have made a lot of progress, but we are not there yet. Public vigilance can be improved upon. Social experiments conducted last year revealed that only 17.3% of passers-by noticed suspicious objects; worst still, only 5.9% of those who noticed took action to inform the authorities. That is why we are focused on growing the SGSecure Responders' Network and continuously refreshing the SGSecure campaign. This year, we will explore new ways to engage the public so that more people are aware of the roles they can play in keeping our community safe.

22. Emergencies do not choose their moments. But how we respond, individually and collectively, can make all the difference.

23. We strongly encourage everyone to sign up as a responder, whether through the SGSecure app or SCDF’s myResponder app. It is a simple first step that can make a big difference to the safety and resilience of our community.

24. And speaking to our volunteers and responders just now, I can see the pride in their faces when they recount instances when they have helped families and sometimes brought someone back from the brink of death. I think that this is an enormous gift that each of you are giving to the community and to society, and we cannot say enough how much we appreciate all of you for it.

Closing Remarks

25. Now, the stories we hear today of our Responders, Partners, and Volunteers exemplify what it means to be a We First society. Our Responders act selflessly to help strangers in distress. Our Partners sacrifice their time and tap on their own resources to assist. And our Volunteers are driven by a strong sense of duty to serve a good cause. On our own, government agencies can only do so much; but with all your support, we are so much more able to keep Singapore and Singaporeans safe and secure.

26. With that, I would like to congratulate our award recipients today. Thank you for showing us what courage, compassion and care for your fellow citizens looks like in action. I am hopeful your stories will motivate many more to step forward and build a society where “we” truly comes before “me”.

27. Together, let us continue to build a Nation of Lifesavers, and a We First society, where no one is ever alone in a crisis because help is never far away.

28. Thank you all very much, and enjoy your evening.