Fire breaks out at Whampoa food centre; no one hurt

SCDF personnel at the scene of the fire in Whampoa Makan Place yesterday. Three members of the public helped to extinguish the fire, which broke out at a nasi lemak stall.
SCDF personnel at the scene of the fire in Whampoa Makan Place yesterday. Three members of the public helped to extinguish the fire, which broke out at a nasi lemak stall. ST PHOTO: FELINE LIM

Three men helped put out a fire that broke out yesterday at a hawker stall in the popular Whampoa Makan Place food centre.

Photos and a video of the men fighting the fire at the Hi Leskmi Nasi Lemak stall at Block 90, Whampoa Drive, appeared on social media at about 1.30pm.

The video shows one man using a water hose to spray flames that licked the exhaust ducting at the top of the stall, while the other two men used fire extinguishers to blast foam through the front of the stall.

In the duration of the 37-second video, they appear to put the flames out.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at about 1.35pm. It said the fire at the exhaust ducting of the stall was extinguished by members of the public before SCDF firefighters arrived.

There were no reports of injuries, the SCDF said.

It sent a fire engine, two Red Rhinos and a support vehicle to the scene.

Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Heng Chee How, who is MP for Jalan Besar GRC, visited the affected stalls yesterday afternoon.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 13, 2017, with the headline Fire breaks out at Whampoa food centre; no one hurt. Subscribe