40 evacuated from HDB block after fire guts 19th-floor unit

Huge flames and thick smoke could be seen billowing from a 19th-floor unit at Block 724 Clementi West Street 2 at about 3.20pm yesterday. The external walls above the affected unit were charred as a result of the fire, which involved the contents of the flat. The fire was extinguished by the Singapore Civil Defence Force using one water jet. A woman, who is the occupant of the affected unit, was assessed by paramedics but she refused to be taken to hospital.

Around 40 people in the block were evacuated but there were no reported injuries. Mr Nadasen Chandra, 72, a retired assistant superintendent of a welfare home, was among those evacuated. While waiting to be allowed back into his 25th-floor flat, which is on the highest floor, he told The Straits Times: "I was shocked when my wife woke me up, and I saw smoke in my flat. The heat was very intense." Another retiree living on the eighth floor of the same block, who wanted to be known as Mr C.S. Leo, 68, said he "saw debris fall out of window". The cause of the fire is under investigation.