Fires break out in 2 units of same Punggol flat, 1 possibly caused by 6-year-old playing with lighter

Two fires broke out in separate units of the same block in Punggol, 223A Sumang Lane, less than an hour apart on May 1.

The second fire is suspected by the homeowner to have been started by a six-year-old boy playing with a lighter.

In response to Mothership's queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that they were alerted to a fire on the ninth floor at about 6:50pm, and to another in a bedroom of a fourth-floor unit at about 7:40pm.

The SCDF extinguished both fires with hose reels.

The fourth-floor fire was larger. In a video, an SCDF officer was putting out the huge blaze in the affected unit from the corridor. The exterior walls of the building around the affected unit were also charred.

Four people were assessed for smoke inhalation and conveyed to a hospital, the SCDF said.

Two firefighters who felt unwell during the firefighting operation were also conveyed to a hospital as a precautionary measure. They have both since been discharged.

The first fire

The first fire involved discarded items along the ninth-floor common corridor, but the cause is still under investigation, the SCDF said.

No injuries were reported.

According to a Mothership reader, several people helped to put out the fire and helped to evacuate the nearby residents before the SCDF arrived.

They were giving a statement to the authorities afterwards when they suddenly heard someone scream about another fire.

The second fire

Although the cause of the second fire also remains under investigation, the owner of the affected unit, a delivery rider surnamed Si (transliteration), told Zaobao he guessed that one of his sons may have been involved.

He said that he was at home at the time along with his wife and two sons, but only his six-year-old son was awake while the rest of them were taking a nap.

He speculated that the boy may have been playing with a lighter and accidentally lit a tissue paper on fire, which then spread to some diapers and a mattress.

His wife, who noticed the fire first, woke him up. As they hurried to leave the house, thick smoke had already filled the living room, and he heard the bedroom window shatter.

In the aftermath, the unit was badly charred. Many of the furniture, clothes, and mattress were also destroyed, Zaobao reported.

Si, heartbroken by his damaged home, said that the authorities have arranged for temporary accommodation for him and his family.

About 30 residents were reportedly evacuated from the block.