SINGAPORE – Two people were taken to hospital after a flat in Toa Payoh caught fire on Thursday night.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to a fire at a sixth-storey Housing Board flat at Block 63 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh at about 9pm.

Four occupants had evacuated the affected flat before firefighters arrived.

The blaze, which broke out in the living room, was extinguished by firefighters using a compressed air foam trolley, SCDF said.

Two people from the affected unit were taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, it added.

SCDF said preliminary investigation showed the fire had most likely originated from the battery pack of a personal mobility aid that was charging in the living room.

Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported on Friday that the exterior of the flat and part of the corridor were blackened with soot, and technicians were seen repairing damaged wires in the corridor.

Shin Min said a 15-year-old boy and his mother returned to the flat on Friday morning to clean up. The teenager said he was in the living room when the fire broke out, while his parents and his two-year-old sister were in a bedroom.

He told Shin Min that the battery pack had suddenly caught fire in the living room, near the bedroom, and he rushed downstairs to get help. When he returned, his family had already evacuated the flat.

He added that his father and a neighbour tried to extinguish the fire with water, but to no avail.

Separately, another fire broke out in a rubbish chute of a condominium in Toa Payoh on Friday.

SCDF said it was alerted at about 12.30pm to a fire at 25 Lorong 3 Toa Payoh, which is where Trevista is located.

A security officer had put out the flames using a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived, SCDF said.

The security officer was assessed by an SCDF paramedic for smoke inhalation and taken to Singapore General Hospital, it added.

“I heard some commotion downstairs around lunchtime,” said an 84-year-old resident living on the 13th level who wanted to be known only as Mr Mak.

“It didn’t seem serious, so I returned to my mahjong game.”

A domestic helper, who declined to be named, told The Straits Times that she saw the security officer, who “kept coughing”, possibly because of the smoke from the fire.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.