‘Frightening sight’: Resident mistakes smoke for burning offerings before 200 evacuated in Choa Chu Kang fire
A Choa Chu Kang resident initially thought the thick smoke he saw was from people burning offerings — before realising there was a fire in his own HDB block.
“It was quite a frightening sight, especially seeing so much smoke and residents being evacuated,” said Stomper Rahmat.
The 27-year-old, who has lived at Block 287 Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2 for five years, told Stomp that he witnessed the fire on the night of Aug 29.
“I saw a large amount of smoke coming from the building,” he said.
“At first, I actually thought it was from Chinese Ghost Month paper burning because there was so much smoke.
“However, I soon realised that there was a fire at the block and saw emergency responders arriving at the scene.”
A video shared by Rahmat shows several people waiting at the foot of the block, with police tape set up at the scene and a fire engine nearby.
Alarm bells can be heard ringing, while the ceiling outside a second-storey unit appears to have been blackened by smoke.
2 people taken to hospital for smoke inhalation
Rahmat was among the residents evacuated from the block and said he was able to return to his flat at about 11.20pm.
In response to a Stomp query, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at about 9.05pm.
The fire involved contents of a bedroom in a unit on the second floor and was extinguished using one water jet.
Two people evacuated from the affected unit before SCDF arrived.
About 200 people from the block were evacuated by the police and SCDF as a precautionary measure.
Two people were taken to Singapore General Hospital for smoke inhalation and have since been discharged, according to a Facebook post by Choa Chu Kang GRC MP Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim on Aug 30.
Zhulkarnain said he had contacted residents of the affected unit and thanked SCDF and police officers, HDB and People’s Association staff and Keat Hong grassroots volunteers who helped.
One of several fires that broke out in HDB flats in August
The fire was one of several HDB fires reported in August.
On Aug 25, about 70 people were evacuated after a fire broke out in a bedroom of a Balestier flat.
Five days earlier, an elderly man was taken to the hospital after another bedroom fire in an HDB flat in Buangkok Crescent.
On Aug 16, one person died and 50 others were evacuated following a fire in a Jurong East flat.
An 88-year-old man also died on Aug 5, two days after a fire broke out in a unit at Block 684 Race Course Road.
The cause of the Choa Chu Kang fire is under investigation.
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