Fire engulfs Sungei Kadut warehouse, 7 rescued
SINGAPORE: Seven people were rescued by firefighters after a fire engulfed a three-storey warehouse in Sungei Kadut early Wednesday morning (Nov 2).
The seven were trapped in an office building adjoining the warehouse at 65 Sungei Kadut Loop, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said. Three were rescued from the rooftop and four from a third-floor balcony. None of them were injured.
It took 80 firefighters, using seven water jets, three hours to put out the fire.
The SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at around 5am, and deployed 19 firefighting vehicles, including two unmanned firefighting machines. The fire was extinguished by 8am.
Speaking to media at the scene, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Chua said all seven people rescued were “in good health”.
The roof of the warehouse collapsed from the blaze, LTC Chua said, adding that the second floor of the building was slightly damaged while the third floor was damaged by soot and heat.
As of 11am, the fire had been largely contained, but firefighters were seen still dousing small pockets of fire across the site.
SCDF said in an update on its Facebook page at around 1.20pm that "damping down" operations were in progress. This refers to the process of wetting burnt surfaces to prevent an extinguished fire from rekindling from the hot surfaces, it explained.
Loud explosions were heard as far away as Choa Chu Kang during the fire, according to Channel NewsAsia viewer Yap Pheng Leong, who lives in Choa Chu Kang Crescent.
“It was raining heavily at that time and I was woken up by the loud explosions,” Mr Yap said.
The fire had subsided by around 7am, although faint glows of flames could still be seen, he added.
Another Channel NewsAsia viewer said the fire could be seen from Kranji Camp. A “boom” was heard at around 5.30am from the site of the fire, he said.
Several Twitter users posted photos and videos of the fire.
Additional reporting by Wong Woon Shin
- CNA/cy