SINGAPORE - A woman escaped a fire that broke out in a condominium in Upper East Coast by climbing onto the window ledge of her fifth-floor apartment.

The fire at a unit in East Meadows at Tanah Merah Kechil Road broke out at around 2.20pm on Wednesday.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that its officers forced their way into the apartment and rescued a woman from one of the bedrooms.

Witnesses told Lianhe Wanbao that a woman who was trapped in the unit climbed out of the window and clung on to the ledge outside the bedroom window for about 20 minutes.

The woman seemed scared and was lying on the ledge, afraid to stand, a witness said.

"Luckily the window had no grill, and the ledge was big enough for her to lie down, some of the other units don't have such a large ledge," said Edmund, who lives in the vicinity and saw the incident unfold.

An SCDF officer helped her climb back into the apartment after the fire was put out.

The fire, which involved the contents of a living room, was extinguished using one water jet, SCDF said.

Approximately 40 residents were evacuated, and three people were taken to Changi General Hospital .

The woman on the ledge, who is in her 30s, suffered from smoke inhalation.

The two other casualties were a woman in her 50s, who also suffered from smoke inhalation, and a woman in her 70s who had shortness of breath. They lived in nearby units.

The cause of fire is under investigation,SCDF said.