2 taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Hougang HDB flat
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The fire had involved contents of a bedroom in a 12th-floor unit, according to the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS READER
SINGAPORE – Two people were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at an HDB flat in Hougang in the early hours of May 19.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said on the same day that it was alerted to the fire at Block 238 Hougang Avenue 1 at around 1.30am.
The fire involved contents of a bedroom in a 12th-floor unit, SCDF said.
Four people had been evacuated from the affected block before the arrival of SCDF officers, who extinguished the fire with a water jet.
Two people were taken to Singapore General Hospital, SCDF added.
Photos of the affected unit shared with Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News show thick, white smoke coming out of the windows of a top-floor unit. Exterior walls near the window also appear charred by the fire.
According to the newspaper, scattered glass shards can be seen on the grass patch near the affected block.
A 75-year-old resident on the fourth floor of the affected block told Shin Min Daily News that a couple in their 60s have been living in the affected unit for more than 40 years.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, SCDF said.
In its annual statistics report released in February, SCDF said the total number of fires has increased by 3 per cent – from 1,990 in 2024 to 2,050 in 2025. Of these, 1,051 involved fires in residential buildings.
According to the report, the number of people who were hurt in fires increased from 80 in 2024 to 94 in 2025. The number of deaths in fires decreased from seven in 2024 to six in 2025.
