A fire broke out at the Leedon Residence condominium near Farrer Road yesterday morning, with residents evacuated from the affected block.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) told The Sunday Times that it received a call about a fire at Leedon Heights at about 10.30am.

SCDF officers put out the fire, which was in the master bedroom of a condo unit on the second floor, with a water jet, two compressed air foam backpacks and two internal hose reels. No one was at home in the unit when the fire broke out.

Smoke and soot from the fire affected two apartments on the third and fourth floor above the unit where the fire began.

SCDF officers had to conduct forcible entry into the two apartments to ensure that there was no one trapped or affected by the fire.

About 50 people were evacuated, and there were no reported casualties.

An ST reader, who gave his name only as Mr Tay, told the newspaper that he saw flames and smoke coming out of a unit on the second floor of Block 24 of Leedon Residence.

"At first I thought it was just a small fire, but the police came and evacuated residents from that block," said the 33-year-old civil servant, who lives in the opposite block. "Then the firemen and paramedics came and the fire started to get bigger, until the windows (of the unit) exploded."

He added that the smoke rose to the seventh or eighth floor at least.

Mr Tay said about 40 residents who had been evacuated were still waiting downstairs at around 11.30am.

"I think they've extinguished the fire. The firemen seem to be checking the third floor," he said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire could be of electrical origin, SCDF said, without elaborating.

Lydia Lam