Firefighters took eight hours to put out an early morning blaze, involving piles of waste materials, that broke out in an industrial warehouse in Kranji yesterday.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which was alerted to the incident at 11, Kranji Crescent, at 2.16am, deployed 22 firefighting appliances and support vehicles, as well as about 70 personnel, to combat it.
No one was injured, it said.
The fire, which had started in the holding area of the single-storey warehouse, was extinguished at 10.15am, according to SCDF.
In one of several updates on its Facebook page, SCDF said the fire had involved waste materials contained inside the building, which are "typically deep seated and difficult to be extinguished quickly".
The warehouse is operated by waste management firm Wah & Hua, which provides services such as collection and disposal.
Wah & Hua owner Melissa Tan told The Straits Times that less than 20 per cent of the warehouse was affected, and that operations would continue yesterday as the company has other warehouses.
About 12 staff work at the Kranji warehouse.
She said that about 20 employees living in a dormitory in the warehouse were evacuated.
When ST visited the scene at 9.20am, there was thick smoke surrounding the warehouse, and the area around the site was cordoned off.
About 30 SCDF officers and at least three fire engines could be seen, with firefighting operations still under way to put out small pockets of fire inside.
Outlining the challenges faced by its firefighters, SCDF said the burning warehouse's zinc roof resulted in smoke naturally accumulating underneath it, causing heavily smoke-logged conditions and hampering breathing and visibility.
The intensity of the fire also meant that firefighters had to be alert and wary at all times of the potential of the roof, which had buckled, collapsing.
This is the second major industrial-related blaze to occur in four days, after an oil storage tank caught fire on the island of Pulau Busing on Monday evening.
SCDF took six hours to put out the blaze in a "massive operation" that involved 128 personnel and 31 firefighting and support vehicles.
