2,050 fires reported in 2025, those involving PMDs increased by 24%: SCDF

The overall number of fire calls that the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) responded to in 2025 increased by 3 per cent, to 2,050 from 1,990 in 2024.

According to an SCDF news release, the number of fires in residential buildings accounted for 51.3 per cent of all cases, at 1,051 phone calls. This was an increase of 8.6 per cent, from 968 calls in 2024.

The number of fires at non-residential premises increased by 13.5 per cent, from 415 in 2024 to 471 in 2025.

Meanwhile, the number of fires at non-building premises decreased by 13 per cent, to a total of 528 calls in 2025.

Non-building fires refer to vegetation fires, vehicle fires, and fires involving discarded items at open spacers like back alleys, areas near service roads, and grass patches.

In addition, fires involving Active Mobility Devices (AMDs) decreased by 18 phone calls, to a total of 49 in 2025.

AMDs include Power Assisted Bicycles (PABs), Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs), and Personal Mobility Aids (PMAs).

Majority of fires involving AMDs occurred in residences

The release noted that fires due to unattended cooking and fires due to electrical origin were the top two causes of fires in residential premises.

Though fires due to unattended cooking decreased by 5.1 per cent at 318 calls, it remained the top cause of residential fires.

Residential fires due to electrical origin increased by 1.7 per cent at 304 calls.

SCDF highlighted that out of the 304 residential fires that had an electrical origin, 34 involved AMDs, which is a decrease of 10 calls, from 44 in 2024.

Other causes of fires in residential premises included naked light, dropped light and others.

As for the remaining 15 AMD fires, one occurred at a non-residential premise and 14 occurred either on the roads or at open spaces.

In terms of breakdown of fires by specific AMD types, SCDF reported that fires involving PMDs increased by 24 per cent, from 25 calls in 2024 to 31 calls in 2025.

Fires involving PMAs decreased by 45.5 per cent, from 11 calls in 2024 to six calls in 2025.

Fires involving PABs decreased by 61.3 per cent, from 31 calls in 2024 to 12 calls in 2025.

Vehicle fires formed the largest proportion of non-building fires

The release noted that out of the 528 fires at non-building premises, vehicle fires accounted for the largest proportion with 193 cases.

This is a decrease of 79 cases from 2024.

Out of the 226 vehicle fires in 2025, 1.77 per cent involved electric vehicles. SCDF said that the primary cause of fires was due to electrical faults involving the battery.

The second largest proportion of non-building fires involved vegetation which accounted for 109 cases, a decrease of 39.4 per cent from 2024.

For fires involving discarded items, the third largest proportion of cases, these increased by 10.3 per cent, from 97 in 2024 to 107 calls in 2025.

Responded to more than 257,000 medical emergency phone calls

In addition, SCDF's news release stated that it responded to 257,158 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) calls in 2025, or an average of 705 EMS calls daily.

This was a 4.8 per cent increase compared to 2024.

Of these, 239,855 were emergency calls, 11,064 were non-emergency calls, and 6,239 were false alarm calls.

Of the 239,855 emergency calls in 2025, 78.6 per cent were medical-related, involving issues such as chest pain, breathlessness, unconsciousness, and cardiac arrest, 16.9 per cent were trauma cases such as industrial accidents, falls, and assaults, and the remaining 4.5 per cent were road traffic accidents.

SCDF also highlighted that EMS calls involving seniors (aged 65 and above) constituted nearly half of all EMS calls.

In the next five years, the number of EMS calls is expected to continue trending upwards, largely due to an expected increase in demand from an ageing population, said SCDF.

Top photos via SCDF/Facebook