Community leaders are working to give "all the necessary support" to the victims of a pre-dawn blaze that took place in a seventh-storey condominium unit in Hume Avenue on Saturday.

Retired businessman Alvin Ng Swee Seng, 68, escaped the fire but later died at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), after suffering burns to 70 per cent of his body.

Ms Low Yen Ling, Parliamentary Secretary (Education, Trade and Industry) and South West District Mayor, told The Straits Times at his wake in Mount Vernon Sanctuary yesterday that she is working closely with his family.

Mr Ng's wife, retired teacher Moreen Soh Chwee Lian, 69, suffered burns to 24 per cent of her body, including her face and ears.

The couple's younger son Timothy Ng, 29, had climbed down from the window of the seventh-storey Hillview Green condominium unit to the floor below after failing to open the main door. He went back to open the door from the outside, and helped rescue his parents.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted at 5.35am to the fire, which involved the contents of the living room.

The unit's seven other residents - the elderly couple's older son, two daughters-in-law, two grand-daughters and the family's two maids - were rescued from their bedrooms. They were taken to National University Hospital and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. Mr Timothy Ng asked not to be taken to hospital.

He had earlier told Shin Min Daily his father had had heart problems in the past, and his death could be partly due to that. The cause of the fire, which was put out with water jets, is being investigated.