Residents evacuate after fire breaks out at flat in Sengkang
No one home when SCDF arrived; blaze involving contents of a bedroom put out with water jet
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About 100 residents evacuated their flats after a fire broke out on the 15th storey of Block 116A Rivervale Drive in Sengkang yesterday.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post that it was alerted to the fire at about 1.40pm.
When SCDF officers arrived, they found the fire raging inside a unit, with no one at home.
The blaze involved the contents of a bedroom and was extinguished with a water jet.
Prior to the officers arriving, an occupant of the burning unit who was coming home was overcome by heavy smoke at the lift lobby of the 15th floor, the SCDF said.
She was later taken to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for smoke inhalation.
One of those who evacuated was Madam Karine Goh, 49, a tutor who lives on the 17th storey.
She told The Sunday Times that she saw billowing black smoke from her master bedroom and quickly turned off all electrical appliances. "I ran outside and told my neighbours to evacuate while my husband went to the burning unit to see if anyone needed help."
Residents said the affected unit's occupants were a couple, their children - an eight-year-old girl and two others in their 20s - and their helper.
A resident who wanted to be known only as Mr Ahmed, a 43-year-old professional in the media industry, said the child and the helper were at the playground when the fire broke out.
"When they returned home from the playground and went up to the unit, they saw smoke coming out of their flat. The helper was later taken to hospital, as she was very shaken by the incident," he said.
Ms Choong Xinyi, a 20-year-old student who lives on the 14th floor, said she initially thought people were burning incense.
But when she realised it was a fire, her first thought was to check if anyone was in the burning flat.
She said: "I quickly alerted the neighbours on the same level and went upstairs to see if anyone was stuck in the burning unit."
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
This is the third Housing Board block fire in two days.
On Friday, a man died and another was injured in a fire at Block 978 Jurong West Street 93.
The SCDF rescued two other men who climbed out of the window onto an air-conditioner ledge.
Another fire happened on the same day at Block 13 Ghim Moh Road. Eighty people were evacuated from the block, and two women, aged 36 and 81, were taken to SGH for smoke inhalation.
