Offshore storage tank fire: NEA monitoring air quality
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The fire broke out on Pulau Busing, an island off the south-western coast of Singapore which is leased to petroleum storage company Tankstore. The SCDF deployed resources to the island to battle the flames.
PHOTO: SCDF
Lydia Lam
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A fire involving an oil storage tank on Pulau Busing was still raging late last night, more than four hours after the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) first said it was responding to the incident.
SCDF said the firefighting operation was expected to be an extended one, with SCDF Commissioner Eric Yap briefing Permanent Secretary (Home Affairs) Pang Kin Keong about the complexity of the operations.
SCDF first flagged the fire on the island, located off the south-western coast of Singapore, in a Facebook post at 6.33pm.
Photos and videos posted on Facebook show dense plumes of smoke rising from the island, which is leased to petroleum storage company Tankstore.
SCDF repeatedly deployed resources to battle the flames, with emergency responders working with the Company Emergency Response Team to carry out boundary cooling of the adjacent tanks.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said last night it was monitoring the air quality closely, especially in the south-western region. "The prevailing winds are currently blowing from the north-east and the air quality has remained in the good to moderate range, with no spikes in the PM2.5, sulphur dioxide and other air pollutant levels," said NEA. "We will provide updates should there be changes in the air quality situation."
