SINGAPORE - Housing Board (HDB) estates that do not have signage indicating designated entry and exit points for emergency vehicles will soon get such signs.

This follows a fire at The Peak @ Toa Payoh last month, when a firefighting vehicle could not access the estate as it had inadvertently tried to enter the area via a designated exit point.

The exit point did not have sufficient turning radius and clearance for the vehicle to enter the estate, where an early morning fire at Block 138C Lorong 1A Toa Payoh on Aug 29 had led to some 300 people being evacuated and three persons taken to hospital with burn injuries and for smoke inhalation.

The estate does not have signs indicating emergency vehicle entry and exit points as it was built in 2012, before the Fire Code mandating such signage was updated in 2018.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on Wednesday (Sept 9) said the other 10 of its 11 vehicles deployed to The Peak had reached the scene without issue via the designated emergency vehicle entrance. It had been alerted to the fire at 2.55am that day.

The fire involved contents in a unit on the 20th floor, and also affected a unit directly above, on the 21st floor.

SCDF said it is working with the HDB to put up signage at The Peak and at other HDB developments that similarly have such designated entry and exit points - required under the 2007 Fire Code - but not the signs.

The Straits Times has contacted HDB and SCDF for more information on when the signs will be put up.

SCDF also said that its firefighters had been unable to use a wet riser in Block 138C during the fire as it was not functioning, and it had on Sept 4 ordered Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council to rectify it.

In response, the town council said on Wednesday that following the fire on Aug 29, its fire protection contractor inspected the wet riser system and found that it was "working fine".

It added that the wet riser was last checked on Aug 26, three days before the fire, and that its contractor's report "showed that the wet riser system was in order".

The town council has engaged an engineer to investigate why the wet riser "had no water" on Aug 29, and findings will be shared subsequently.

SCDF said it is also investigating the cause of the malfunction and will "take further enforcement action against the responsible parties where necessary".