Joo Seng Road fire: Couple in their 80s huddled in toilet as smoke from flat below filled their home
Claudia Tan and Emily Koh
The Straits Times
May 5, 2026
As smoke engulfed their Joo Seng Road flat at about 9pm on May 4, a couple in their 80s called their daughter on the phone, desperate for help.
She told them to hide in the bathroom with the helper and wait for rescuers. She also notified her brother, who rushed over from his home in Springleaf.
Both children live in their own homes.
The couple’s son, Mr Ang Eek, said his parents and the helper were asleep when fire engulfed an 18th-floor unit directly below their flat at Block 14 Joo Seng Road.
“There was smoke all around. My father panicked and called my sister, who told them to hide in the toilet,” he recounted.
His parents were eventually rescued by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
“My mum can’t walk, so I think (firefighters) had to carry her down to the void deck,” said Mr Ang, 57, who works in finance.
The Straits Times understands that the elderly couple were among eight people taken to Singapore General Hospital. All of them suffered smoke inhalation.
Potong Pasir MP Alex Yeo, who oversees the area, said in a Facebook post on May 4 that residents in the entire block were evacuated.
Preliminary findings by SCDF indicate the fire could have been intentionally started. A 44-year-old man was arrested at the scene for fire by mischief, said the police.
Several residents told ST that the suspect lives with his elderly parents in the 18th-floor unit.
They said he had a habit of burning incense almost every day for three years. According to Mr Ang, the smoke would waft into his parents’ home.
His father, a retired artist, took several videos of the smoke blowing into his home.
The videos also show someone holding out a tray with burning incense.
Mr Ang said he was worried about the incense smoke affecting his parents’ health.
“We’ve been neighbours for almost 40 years. We’re not sure why (he’s doing this),” Mr Ang said, adding that the man’s parents apologised to his parents for the behaviour.
Mr Ang and his father had raised the issue with Mr Yeo, the Housing Board and the town council.
A letter from HDB dated March 31 stated that it was working with the relevant agencies to provide assistance to the family on the 18th floor.
Mr Ang said: “We’re trying to be nice because we don’t want to get his parents into trouble, but he’s an adult, so it’s hard to discipline him.”
Mr Ang’s parents intend to move in with one of his siblings when they are discharged from the hospital.
“I’m just glad that my parents are (okay). We’re wondering how to renovate the place now,” he added.
Photos of the home seen by ST show the unit covered in soot.
When ST visited the block at about 1pm on May 5, several SCDF vehicles were parked downstairs. Police officers and SCDF personnel were walking around the affected units.
Town council staff were seen cleaning up debris on the floor.
A resident of the block, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she often visited the 18th-floor unit to have her hair dyed by the suspect’s mother, who is a hairdresser.
She said the man would often burn incense in the unit while she was there, adding that some customers stopped going there because of the smoke.
The woman, who last visited the unit in April, described the flat as very cluttered. “Whenever I enter the house, I have to squeeze past a lot of things,” she said.
ST has contacted Jalan Besar Town Council for comment.
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