A fire broke out at an abattoir at 32 Senoko Crescent on Monday afternoon.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted to the incident at Heng Guan Poultry Industries at about 4.55pm. The fire was extinguished within one hour by three water jets and no one was injured.

Business owner Mr Andy Sng told The Straits Times that his workers were not around when the fire broke out after factory hours in the slaughterhouse's "wax room" - where ducks are defeathered. He added that no animals were killed in the blaze, and that all ducks had been processed for the day by the time the fire broke out.

The SCDF said it sent two fire engines, one Red Rhino, two fire bikes and four support vehicles to the location. Preliminary investigations showed that the fire involved the exhaust system at the factory, and it was contained within a space measuring 20m by 20m.

Mr Sng said it was the first time a fire has broken out at the premises, which was been operating for more than 20 years.

He said: "Thankfully the fire did not spread, and we did not suffer any damage to the roof or the cold room." He declined to put an estimate to the damages incurred, saying that he should not pre-empt the work of the insurance surveyors, who are due to visit the factory on Tuesday.

While he assured clients that the delivery of supplies will not be affected on Tuesday, he said he was worried that operations will be affected beyond that.

"We don't know when we can resume work again, because investigations into the fire are still ongoing," said Mr Sng.