3 separate fires ravage HDB blocks across S'pore in 1 night, total of 515 people evacuated

3 people were conveyed to hospitals.

Jane Zhang | January 29, 2022, 11:47 AM

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Fires ignited at three separate housing estates in Tampines, Telok Blangah, and Bedok within the span of 12 hours on Friday (Jan. 28) night and Saturday (Jan. 29) early morning.

The fires resulted in three people being conveyed to hospitals.

SCDF responded to three separate fires

In three Facebook posts, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) stated that it had responded to fires at Block 941 Tampines Ave 5, Block 204 Bedok North Street 1, and Block 39 Telok Blangah Rise.

Fire at Block 941 Tampines Ave. 5

The SCDF had been alerted to the fire at Block 941 Tampines Ave 5 at 10:30pm on Friday.

When the SCDF arrived, the fire was "raging" and had "totally engulfed" a two-storey unit on the 10th floor of the building.

Firefighters from Tampines Fire Station and Changi Fire Station forced entry in order to enter the unit.

While firefighting within the unit, they also forced entry into a bedroom on the first storey, where they found a man lying unconscious on the floor.

The firefighters immediately rescued him from the burning unit, where he was assessed and conveyed to Changi General Hospital.

The fire involved contents of the entire unit, and was extinguished with two water jets.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Around 180 people from neighbouring units were evacuated.

Block 204 Bedok North Street 1

Then, around 11:50pm, the SCDF was alerted to a fire at Block 204 Bedok North Street 1.

When the SCDF arrived, the fire was "well-alight" and had completely engulfed the coffeeshop on the ground floor of the block. In addition, the kitchen exhaust ducting on the side of the building was also on fire.

Firefighters adopted a two-pronged strategy, first quickly deploying water jets around the area to contain the fire in the coffeeshop and the kitchen exhaust duct.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

They then forced entry into the coffeeshop in order to fight the fire inside. Within one hour, it was extinguished with five water jets.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

As of 2:22am on Saturday morning, the SCDF said that damping down operations were ongoing.

Damping is the application of water to wet burnt surfaces immediately after a fire is put out, in order to prevent any potential rekindling of the fire.

About 55 people from the residential units above the coffee shop were evacuated as a precautionary measure, and there were no reported injuries.

Block 39 Telok Blangah Rise

The SCDF was alerted to the third fire of the night, at Block 39 Telok Blangah Rise, at around 4:40am on Saturday morning.

Upon the SCDF's arrival, the fire was raging and had "totally engulfed" a 10th floor unit.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Firefighters put on breathing apparatus sets and cautiously entered the smoke-logged unit. The fire involved contents of the entire unit, and was extinguished with two water jets.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Photo via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.

As the firefighting operation was ongoing, residents from neighbouring units were being evacuated.

Firefighters forced entry into the unit directly above the fire and found a woman lying unconscious on the floor. She was immediately rescued and brought to the lift lobby.

The ambulance crew and firefighters then performed CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on her, and she was conveyed to Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

About 280 people were evacuated as a precautionary measure, and another person was assessed by an ambulance crew and conveyed to SGH for smoke inhalation injuries.

Causes of fires under investigation

In total, 515 people were evacuated as a result of the three fires.

The causes of all three of the fires are currently under investigation.

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Top photos via Facebook / Singapore Civil Defence Force.