A FIRE broke out in the kitchen of a flat in Teban Gardens Road early on Tuesday morning.

It is believed to have been sparked off by a frying pan that was left to heat up on a kitchen stove.

A 34-year-old production supervisor, who lives in the fifth floor flat with his family at Block 31 Teban Gardens Road, had filled the pan with oil and was going to cook himself a meal. While wating, he fell asleep.

He was awakened at 4.30am by thick smokes that had drifted from the kitchen into the living room. He immediately alerted his family and they rushed to a neighbour's house for help.

Fire-fighters arrived 10 minutes later, and evacuated residents in the surrounding homes. The fire was put out by 6am.

The affected family has lived in their flat for the past eight years.

The acrid smell of smoke still lingered in the air on Tuesday morning and the walls of the home were blackened with soot. The family plans to stay with some relatives until the flat has been repaired and cleaned up.

According to statistics released by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) last week, there were 271 household fires caused by unattended cooking in the first half of this year, a slight drop from the same period last year.