2 taken to hospital after fire in River Valley apartment, unattended cooking the likely cause

A fire in an apartment in the River Valley area led to two persons being taken to the hospital, and about 150 people evacuated from the block.

The two persons were from neighbouring units, and were assessed for smoke inhalation before being conveyed to Singapore General Hospital.

Black smoke from the fire could be seen coming out from a unit located on the 18th floor of Great World Serviced Apartments along Kim Seng Walk at around 5pm on Aug. 21.

The scene was caught on camera by a Xiaohongshu user who lived opposite the building.

According to the video, at least six firefighters, four police officers, three Singapore Civil Defence Force vehicles, and two police vehicles were present at the scene.

A group of three individuals, believed to be residents of the building, could be seen waiting on the ground floor while several others could be seen walking out from the block.

Another group of at least 15 onlookers were standing on the road outside the serviced apartment, with some taking photos or videos of the scene.

Smoke triggered fire alarm in opposite building

In the caption of the post, the Xiaohongshu user said she was working from home when the fire alarm in her building went off.

She did not think too much of it at first as she thought it was a false alarm.

However, after noticing the smell of thick smoke, she went to her living room to check what went wrong.

From the window, she saw a fire had broken out at the apartment opposite, and that firefighters and police officers were at the scene.

No one was inside the unit when fire broke out: SCDF

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) confirmed in an Aug. 21 Facebook post that they were alerted to a fire at the serviced apartments at around 4:50pm.

The fire involved the kitchen of the 18th-floor unit, and SCDF officers extinguished it with a water jet.

No one was inside the unit at the time of the fire, said SCDF.

Aftermath of fire

As a result of the fire, the unit's kitchen was damaged, and the rest of the flat sustained heat and soot damage, according to SCDF.

About 150 people had evacuated the block before SCDF's arrival.

Two persons from neighbouring units were assessed for smoke inhalation and conveyed to Singapore General Hospital.

"Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire is likely to have been caused by cooking left unattended," the post read.

SCDF also reminded the public not to leave their cooking unattended, even for a short while.