1 taken to hospital, 24 evacuated after fire breaks out in Bukit Batok flat

SINGAPORE – One person was taken to hospital and 24 were evacuated after a fire broke out in the bedroom of a 16th-floor HDB unit in Bukit Batok on Dec 30.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to a fire at Block 288A Bukit Batok Street 25 at about 10.55am.

The fire was contained within the bedroom and extinguished by SCDF firefighters with two water jets. The rest of the unit sustained heat and smoke damage.

Four people evacuated from the affected unit before SCDF’s arrival, and a further 20 in the affected block were evacuated by the police and SCDF as a precaution.

One person, who felt unwell, was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

Preliminary findings indicate the cause of fire is likely of an electrical origin in the affected bedroom, SCDF said.

Ms Emma Chow, 21, was walking on the road next to the affected block when she heard a strange sound above her.

“It was a loud sound, and I thought it was coming from the trees at first,” said the undergraduate, who called the SCDF after looking up and realising there was a fire.

A small crowd soon gathered at the multipurpose hall near the block, including a woman, who looks to be in her late 40s and identified herself as the owner of the affected unit.

The woman told Ms Chow that she left her unit and told her neighbours to evacuate when she noticed her windows were on fire.

Ms Chow said the woman looked frazzled and mentioned that “all her works are gone” because of the fire.

SCDF’s

annual statistics report

released on Feb 13 shows that 968 calls received in 2024 were related to residential fires.

Of these fires, 299 were of electrical origin, while 335 were from unattended cooking, making them the top two causes of fires in residential premises.

There were 8.3 per cent more fires of electrical origin in 2024 than in 2023.

The Straits Times has contacted the police for further information.