Man queues for an hour to get his char kway teow at Chinatown food centre -- then fire breaks out
Maybe it was because he thought it wasn't hot enough.
A man waited nearly an hour for his char kway teow at a Chinatown food centre and when he finally got his food, a fire broke out, forcing him to evacuate with everyone else.
Stomper S shared videos of the very long queue for the Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee stall at Hong Lim Market and Food Centre as well as the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) fighting the fire on Jan 2.
"I was caught in the middle at Block 531A Upper Cross Street near Chinatown Point while having lunch," recounted the Stomper.
It was his first time trying the char kway teow from the stall.
He said: "The fire was coming from a stall in the row in front of the kuay teow stall.
The whole hawker centre might be closed and the stall might also be closed for a while as "the entire place was engulfed with thick smoke.
"We have probably tasted the last few kway teow servings from the stall for a while to come."
The good news is that the Stomper had finished his kway teow before evacuating.
He said the food was "very tasty but not spicy enough", adding: "Given the wait time of nearly an hour, I don't think I will go again as it's not practical.
"Unless someone else can queue up to buy it for me."
In a Facebook post at about 6.30pm on Jan 2, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, who is also an MP for Jalan Besar GRC, said that affected stallholders had since been able to return to their stalls.
She said: "To keep the public safe, (the Jalan Besar) Town Council has barricaded the common walkway where the exhaust system was damaged."
Adding that the rest of the food centre remains operational, she said that SCDF and the Building and Construction Authority had conducted a thorough inspection of the exhaust duct system to ensure that the premises are safe for everyone.
Other videos of the fire were also posted online.
SCDF said there were no reported injuries.
"The fire involved the kitchen exhaust ducting on the second floor of the affected block," said SCDF, adding that firefighters extinguished the fire using three water jets.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
