Elderly woman dies in Yew Tee fire: 'Sorry, sir, we tried our best,' firefighter tells MP
An elderly woman was found dead after a fire broke out in a flat at Block 692A Choa Chu Kang Crescent on Sept 24 morning.
Firefighters from Bukit Batok Fire Station and Woodlands Fire Station responded to a fire at 5.25am.
They conducted forcible entry to gain access into the ninth-storey flat, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in a Facebook post.
About 150 people from the block were evacuated by the police and SCDF as a precautionary measure.
The fire involved the living room and a bedroom and was extinguished with a water jet and two compressed air foam backpacks. The rest of the home also sustained heat and smoke damage.
The woman was found inside one of the bedrooms and was carried out of the unit by firefighters. She was pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic.
No one else was in the flat.
Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Alex Yam had posted on Facebook at 6.17am during fire: "We are currently trying to ascertain the whereabouts of an elderly resident known to be staying in the unit."
At 9am, he updated: "It is very unfortunate that our elderly resident lost her life in the fire. May she rest in peace. I met the family and conveyed our community's deepest condolences and extended our assistance to them."
Mr Yam added: "I would like to recognise the immediate neighbours who stepped forward immediately to attempt to extinguish the fire and alert other neighbours to evacuate and to our firefighters who gave their best, who told me with disappointment: 'Sorry sir, we tried our best.'
"You did what you could."
SCDF said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Five days earlier, two men died after a fire broke out at the Synergy @ KB building in Kaki Bukit on Sept 19.
