Plume of smoke seen over Serangoon Road after shophouse fire, 40 people evacuated
About 40 people were evacuated after a fire broke out at a Serangoon Road shophouse on July 22.
Stompers Wenjia, Steve and Y alerted Stomp to the fire at 562C Serangoon Road.
Wenjia, who spotted the blaze while on her way to work, said: “I was just passing by and saw this.”
Photos and videos shared with Stomp show a plume of smoke rising from the building as multiple Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) vehicles and firefighters arrive at the scene.
Firefighters can also be seen battling the blaze from above using an aerial water jet deployed from a combined platform ladder.
Beatty Road was cordoned off during the firefighting operation.
Y, who is a nearby resident, told Stomp that the incident caused a traffic jam.
“I saw black and white smoke in the sky and then saw the shophouse roof was on fire,” he said.
The Straits Times reported that four of five lanes along Serangoon Road were closed, resulting in heavy traffic congestion.
In a Facebook post, SCDF said it was alerted to the fire on the fourth storey of the shophouse at about 9.30am.
“SCDF deployed two water jets to fight the fire,” the statement said. “An aerial water jet from a combined platform ladder (CPL) was also deployed to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent units.
The fire was extinguished within an hour.
As a precaution, about 40 occupants from neighbouring shophouse units were evacuated by the police and SCDF.
There were no reported injuries.
Damping down operations, which involve applying water to burnt surfaces to cool them and prevent the fire from rekindling, were ongoing at the time of SCDF’s statement.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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