Fire causes heavy damage to Taoist temple
No injuries reported, but up to $400,000 in losses estimated; cause under investigation
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A fire at the Poh Ann Keng temple in Tampines badly damaged the front hall, prayer altar and several statuettes last Saturday morning, the fifth day of Chinese New Year.
PHOTOS: FACEBOOK/POH ANN KENG
Tee Zhuo
What should have been an auspicious day turned out to be an ill-fated one for a Taoist temple in Tampines.
A fire at the Poh Ann Keng temple badly damaged the front hall, prayer altar and many statuettes last Saturday morning, the fifth day of Chinese New Year.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at 95 Tampines Link, the temple's address, at around 6.50am.
The fire affected the prayer altar and was extinguished using one water jet, SCDF said. No injuries were reported.
An SCDF spokesman said yesterday that it is still investigating the cause of the fire.
In a Facebook post at about 10.30pm last Saturday, Poh Ann Keng thanked those who had expressed concern and offered support to the temple.
It wrote in Chinese that the fire broke out at the temple at 3am, and said the cause of the fire was being investigated.
"The temple's management are all saddened by the incident, and we hope that we can rebuild the temple in the near future," it added.
Supporters commented with messages of encouragement and commiseration.
Facebook user AH HO wrote in Chinese that the "heartless" fire burned away the memories of countless people, but asked the temple's management not to give up.
"With perseverance and faith, you can definitely do it," the user said.
Another user, Hodder Melvin, said in Chinese: "Don't worry, it will get repaired soon. Keep it up! Please take care of yourselves as well."
A Poh Ann Keng spokesman told The Straits Times that engineers will be conducting checks on the structure of the temple tomorrow.
The spokesman said there will be a temple meeting to further discuss the reinstatement of the temple.
He added that the temple hoped to get feedback on further findings from SCDF today.
A temple volunteer, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, estimated the damage to be between $300,000 and $400,000.
"I am very sad... some of these statues that were destroyed in the fire were as old as the temple itself," he said last Saturday.
Shin Min Daily News reported that about 30 statuettes were destroyed in the fire.
Temple director Xie Laifa, 70, told the Chinese-language newspaper that the temple had spent tens of thousands of dollars on renovations last November.
"We installed a new exhaust fan and repainted. Some of these statues were specially imported from China. To see them all burned to cinders now is regrettable," he said.
Engineers have been asked to assess the damage before it is deemed safe to begin repair works, said Mr Tan, 56.
The temple, known for its five statues of the Monkey King, dates back more than 80 years to when the late philanthropist Tan Kim Seng popularised it in the 1930s.
Some of the artefacts in the temple are believed to be more than a century old, the temple's website says.
According to the site, the temple's location has shifted many times in its history.
Poh Ann Keng moved from its Geylang location after World War II to serve devotees in Peck Seah Street in Tanjong Pagar.
In 1990, it returned to Geylang, before moving to Upper Boon Keng Road in 1993.
It moved to Braddell Road in 1996, back to Geylang in 1999, and finally opened its new premises in Tampines in 2004 where it has remained since.
