3rd person dies following Hougang St 91 HDB flat fire

A third person has died following the Hougang Street 91 flat fire, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in a Facebook post update.

The person was found in a bedroom and pronounced dead at the scene by an SCDF paramedic.

Two others were found dead at the scene in a bedroom by an SCDF paramedic earlier in the afternoon.

"Firefighters conducted forcible entry into the unit but encountered challenges entering due to excessive items within the unit," SCDF said.

Fire took over two hours to extinguish

The SCDF were alerted to the fire at 12:40pm at Block 971 Hougang Street 91.

Firefighters from Ang Mo Kio and Sengkang fire stations were deployed to the scene, and arrived within eight minutes.

The fire, which involved a unit located on the third floor, saw over 30 residents across seven floors evacuated as part of precautionary measures.

The fire was extinguished at about 3:15pm with the use of three water jets, SCDF said.

In addition to the water jets, a firefighting robot was also used to ventilate the unit and reduce firefighters’ exposure to risk, SCDF said.

The cause of the blaze is being investigated.

Top image from SCDF