5 young suspects arrested over large fire at Punggol Waterway on Saturday night

The fire spread across an area the size of two basketball courts, according to SCDF. PHOTO: AARON LOH VIA PUNGGOL 21'S FACEBOOK PAGE

SINGAPORE - Five young suspects have been arrested for allegedly causing a large blaze at a park in Punggol on Saturday (Jan 30) night.

In a Facebook statement on Sunday morning, the Punggol Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) said the all-male quintet, aged between 14 and 20, were involved in a case of mischief by fire at Punggol Waterway, near Waterway Primary School.

The "vegetation fire", according to a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman, spread to an area measuring the size of two basketball courts.

SCDF deployed two fire engines and two red rhinos to the scene, and the fire was put out using three water jets.

It took 20 firefighters about 30 minutes to bring the blaze under control, and another full hour to extinguish it completely and conduct damping down operations so as to prevent the fire from rekindling.

No one was injured.

Punggol NPC said it was alerted to the incident at 10.49pm. It added that the fire caused damage to the park.

Police investigations are ongoing, while SCDF is also investigating the cause of the fire.

A video posted by Facebook user Suchart Lim on Sunday morning showed a crowd of onlookers gathered on a bridge as the blaze raged on nearby.

Mr Tay Wei Cheng, who witnessed the fire and called both police and the SCDF, claimed on Facebook that the group were responsible for the fire as they had been playing with firecrackers.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.