Three hours to douse fire in 7 Geylang shophouses

It took three hours and about 60 firefighters to put out the flames engulfing seven shophouses in Geylang Road early yesterday morning.

In a Facebook post at 1.47am, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that it had been alerted to a fire at 643 Geylang Road.

It also shared photos and videos of SCDF officers working to bring the raging fire at the row of double-storey shophouses under control.

In an update at 4.48am, SCDF said the fire involved seven shophouses - five were fully engulfed in flames.

The fire spread quickly as the units shared a common roof, and had a high density of furniture and other combustible materials in some of them, SCDF said.

There were no reported injuries.

A total of 17 emergency vehicles were deployed.

The SCDF said that at the height of the operations, "nine handheld jets and three water monitors from the aerial appliances" were used.

Facebook users also posted videos of the blaze, with some motorists advising others of road closures and traffic jams in the area.

One user wrote: "My friend and I decided to buy duku langsat at (a) Lorong 36 Geylang fruit shop. What greeted us was a horrifying inferno... at Lorong 33 Geylang shophouses!

"When we left the place, the fire was still on. I hope there are no casualties. Kudos to police officers, SCDF officers and firefighters for doing a good (job) and (working) bravely."

Another user wrote that the stretch of road from Lorong 31 to Lorong 35 in Geylang was closed to traffic.

The SCDF said damping-down operations were carried out to prevent the fire from rekindling from the hot burnt surfaces.