Singapore — A fire broke out on the fourth floor of a Boon Lay Housing Board flat on Monday evening, July 15, injuring six people and causing the evacuation of around 100 residents.
At around 10:15 pm, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted to a fire at Block 191, Boon Lay Drive. The SCDF was aided by the Police in evacuating the residents of the block.
Fortunately, only one water jet was needed in putting the fire out. However, one man and five women suffered injuries because of the fire, and they were brought to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital for treatment.
According to the SCDF, the fire involved objects inside the apartment, and what caused the fire is now under investigation. “The fire involved contents in the unit and was extinguished by SCDF with one water jet,” the SCDF said.
Netizens alerted the public to the fire, with one man named Eric Sng Gak Hwa beginning to post about it at around 11 pm. He wrote, “Boon lay Drive block 191 4story baby (sic) fire” along with two videos of the fire.
A little while later he posted, “Boon lay Drive block 191 fourth story heavy fire.”
An hour later, he posted in Chinese, “This fire is not small, but dozens of people have been evacuated,” showing a video of people milling about on the ground floor.
The Straits Times (ST) reported that other videos were also posted on Facebook, showing officers of the SCDF going into the apartment to put the fire out.
According to Jeffrey Lee, a resident of the block, people were allowed to return to their homes in batches starting from an hour after the SCDF got the alert, by around 11:15 pm, he told Channel NewsAsia (CNA). The only residents who were kept back were those who lived in the apartments near the one involved in the fire.
The fire at Boon Lay was not the only recent one that Singapore has seen. Earlier this month, a fire on the ground floor of a block at Ang Mo Kio Central caused eight people to be hospitalized for burn injuries and smoke inhalation. The victims of the July 5 blaze included one SCDF officer.
The SCDF responded to the incident at Block 720 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 at 3:45 pm, but was able to control the flames in under an hour.
The fire affected four first-floor establishments, all of which had adjoining units on the building’s second storey.
This fire, which was bigger than the Boon Lay blaze, was attended to by 60 firefighters in 19 emergency vehicles, using four water jets.
Affected residents were given temporary housing, according to the area’s Member of Parliament Koh Poh Koon.
In a Facebook post, Dr Koh wrote, “Our Merchants and Hawkers Association are also coordinating support needed by stall owners. I have spoken to some of the affected residents and hawkers to assure them that we will continue to monitor the situation and render the necessary assistance to those affected by the fire.”/ TISG
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