A spokesman for the SCDF told The Straits Times that 2nd Warrant Officer Vasu Devan, 37, was alone at the time of the incident.

He was a permanent resident from Malaysia and had been a full-time SCDF officer since December 1998.

The police said that they received a call at about 5am informing them that someone was lying motionless inside the fire station.

2WO Devan's body was found in the drill yard - an open-air space facing a low-rise building which houses offices, bunks and storerooms.

He had a small wound on his right arm and was bleeding from the lips. He died at the scene.

Police have classified the case as an unnatural death.

SUJIN THOMAS