Fire at Blk 493, Jurong West Street 41
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Fire breaks out at Jurong West, 300 residents evacuated
SINGAPORE: A fire broke out at a Jurong West coffee shop and wet market on Tuesday morning (Oct 11).The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said on Facebook it was alerted to the fire at Block 493 Jurong West Street 41 at about 2.45am and dispatched three fire engines, four red rhinos, seven support vehicles and four ambulances to the scene.Upon arrival, SCDF said both the wet market and coffee shop were "completely engulfed in flames". Firefighters then surrounded the fire with "six water jets and deployed an aerial monitor from a combined platform ladder".At the height of the fire, the roof of the wet market collapsed and the exterior side wall of a coffee shop at Blk 494, which was directly facing the raging blaze, sustained fire damage, SCDF said.The fire was extinguished by 4:15 am, it added.According to the SCDF, about 300 residents from the surrounding blocks were evacuated by police and SCDF officers, and are now "progressively being allowed to return to their homes".A woman in her 60s experienced difficulty breathing and was conveyed to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, and there were no other reported injuries, it said.SCDF is investigating the cause of the fire.One eyewitness who stays at Block 499 told Channel NewsAsia that she heard "loud explosions" between 2.30am and 2.40am, and had to close her windows since "thick black smoke" was entering her home. She was then asked by the police to evacuate the building.The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said its engineers inspected the building and found that the building structure of Block 493 remains stable although the roof has partially collapsed. The structural integrity of Block 494 and upper floors of the building are not affected, it noted.BCA said in the interest of public safety, it has directed owners of affected buildings to cordon off affected areas and to appoint a professional engineer to assess the structural condition of the buildings and recommend permanent rectification works. The affected building at Block 493 and first-storey coffee shop at Block 494 as well as the damaged parts of adjacent covered linkways will have to be sealed off until detailed investigations are completed and rectification works carried out.- CNA/am -
A firefighter at the scene of the Jurong West blaze. (Photo: SCDF Facebook page)
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The roof of the wet market collapsed and the exterior side wall of a coffee shop at Blk 494, which was directly facing the raging blaze, sustained fire damage. (Photo: Siti Nurashikin/Facebook)
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this was some big fire in the wet market...