More fire injuries and EV blazes in 2025; nearly half of emergency calls involved seniors: SCDF
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SCDF services responding to a fire in Tampines Avenue 4 on Jan 3.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
- Singapore recorded six fire fatalities in 2025, up from five in 2024, with most blazes occurring in residential homes.
- Unattended cooking and electrical faults, remained top causes for home fires; AMD fires are a key concern.
- There were 257,158 emergency medical services calls in 2025 and 49.7 per cent involved seniors (aged 65 and above).
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SINGAPORE - More people got hurt in fires – from 80 in 2024 to 94 in 2025 – the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said when it released its annual statistics report on Feb 11.
And the number of electric vehicles (EVs) that caught fire increased from one in 2024 to four in 2025, it said.
SCDF said the total number of fires increased by 3 per cent – from 1,990 in 2024 to 2,050 in 2025. Of these, 1,051 involved fires at residential buildings.
Unattended cooking and electrical fires – including faults in electrical wiring or overloaded sockets – remained the top two causes of home fires.
Of the 304 cases of electrical fires at residential premises in 2025, 34 involved active mobility devices (AMDs). AMDs include personal mobility devices (PMDs), power-assisted bicycles and personal mobility aids.
Although there were fewer AMD fires – a drop from 67 in 2024 to 49 in 2025 – the number of PMD fires increased from 25 to 31 incidents.
In November 2025, two PMD fires in Ang Mo Kio and Yishun saw more than 200 residents evacuated and several others taken to hospital.
Despite the overall decrease, SCDF said AMD fires remain an area of concern, especially for those that occur in homes, as fire spreads quickly in confined spaces.
SCDF urged members of the public to buy and use only original batteries for AMDs, and to not leave batteries or devices charging for prolonged periods or overnight.
The authorities have been targeting errant PMD users.
On Jan 28, a 22-year-old man was jailed for seven months for using an incompatible PMD battery charger, which caused a fire that killed his uncle’s fiancee in March 2022.
Fewer fatalities
There were seven fire fatalities in 2024 and six in 2025.
SCDF told The Straits Times on Feb 11 that in its annual statistics for 2024, it had initially said there were six deaths. That number has been amended after investigations were concluded regarding a fire incident in 2024.
SCDF said the six fire fatalities in 2025 involved incidents in Hougang, River Valley Road and Bukit Merah.
In January 2025, a fire in a third-floor unit at Block 971 Hougang Street 91 killed a married couple and their teenage daughter.
A 10-year-old girl died after a fire broke out at a cooking school in River Valley Road on April 8, 2025. Twenty-one others were injured.
And on Aug 13, 2025, a PMD caught fire in a Bukit Merah flat, killing a couple in their 30s.
The statistics do not include cases that are pending investigation.
More EV fires
In 2025, there were four EV fires, an increase from one case in 2024.
Three of the four fires were due to electrical faults with the battery, said SCDF.
The total number of vehicle fires decreased from 257 in 2024 to 226 in 2025.
As at Dec 31, 2025, there were 50,025 registered EVs in Singapore, including cars, taxis and motorcycles, according to data from the Land Transport Authority, which SCDF cited. Singapore’s total vehicle population was 833,103.
Emergency calls and elderly
In its report, SCDF said the number of emergency medical services (EMS) calls increased from 245,279 in 2024 to 257,158 in 2025.
Nearly half (49.7 per cent) of these calls involved seniors aged 65 and above.
SCDF said it expects the number of emergency calls to increase in the next five years due to an increase in demand from an ageing population.
In 2026, Singapore is expected to become a super-aged society, where at least 21 per cent of the population is aged 65 or older.
Of the total number of EMS calls, 11,064 were non-emergency calls and 6,239 were false alarms.
Among the 239,855 emergency calls, 188,474 were medical-related, including ailments such as chest pain, breathlessness, unconsciousness and cardiac arrest.
One worrying statistic was the increase in emergency calls involving road traffic accidents.
These increased from 9,564 calls in 2024 to 10,737 calls in 2025. That is an average of 29 calls daily regarding such accidents.
The overall response rate of community first responders (CFRs) who assisted in cardiac arrest and minor fire cases increased from about 50.3 per cent in 2024 to 72.4 per cent in 2025. They had responded to alerts sent via the myResponder app.
The app notifies CFRs of cardiac arrest and fire cases within 400m of their location, and lists the locations of nearby automated external defibrillators.
SCDF said there were 47,240 new sign-ups on the app in 2025, a 17.4 per cent increase from the 40,245 sign-ups in 2024.
There are currently more than 250,000 CFRs registered on the app, which was launched in 2015. As at end-November 2025, CFRs who were alerted via the app have saved the lives of 160 cardiac arrest victims.
