A fire in the living room of a 3-room flat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 was put out by firemen from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on Monday evening.

Three fire engines and one supporting appliance was deployed to the scene when the SCDF was alerted to it at 8.18pm. One water jet was used to put the fire out, SCDF said.

The owner of the flat in Block 633, who only wanted to be known as Mrs Lim, said that she, her painter husband Mr Lim, 63, and their domestic maid were having dinner at the nearby Ang Mo Kio Hub at about 7pm when a neighbour called them about the fire.

The 68-year-old housewife, told reporters that she thought the fire might have started from the burning candle on the worship altar.

None of the occupants of the flat were in the 12th-floor unit when the fire occurred, she added. The fourth occupant, their adult son, was at work at the time. Mrs Lim appeared distraught when The Straits Times was at the scene at around 9.30pm.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, SCDF said.