According to the Singapore Civil Defence Force, there are hundreds of fires in HDB common areas due to obstruction in common corridors, dry risers and hose reels.

Cluttering is a perennial problem caused by selfish and inconsiderate residents who believe they not only own their flats but the common corridors as well.

In fact, the common corridors are public areas managed by the town councils and owned by HDB.

Therefore, regardless of how wide the common corridors are built, residents will still clutter them, as bad habits die hard ("Comparing corridors across different public housing projects"; ST Online, June 29).

Would having 1.6m-wide corridors help prevent people from cluttering them?

The problem is that whenever there is some spare space, residents tend to find something to put outside their homes just because others are doing the same.

The Pasir Ris One developer did the right thing by building 1.2m-wide corridors and HDB should follow suit ("Corridors of discontent at Pasir Ris One"; June 25). This will discourage cluttering due to the lesser amount of space.

Because people assume that fires will not happen to them and due to town councils' laxity in enforcement, common corridors have become littered with things, some of which - such as clothing - can easily catch fire.

Such irresponsible behaviour seriously hampers fire-fighting efforts and smooth evacuation in an emergency.

Francis Cheng