Kranji warehouse catches fire; second major fire in 3 days
SINGAPORE: Firefighters took about eight hours to quell a warehouse fire in Kranji on Thursday (Mar 22), the second major industrial fire to break out in three days.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was alerted to the fire at 11 Kranji Crescent at around 2.15am. At least 70 firefighters were deployed to the scene, it said in a Facebook post.
The blaze was put out at about 10.15am.
The firefighters faced tricky conditions including a buckled zinc roof and smoke-logged surroundings, the post said.
"The fire involving piles of waste materials is contained within a warehouse," SCDF said in a later post, adding that 16 firefighting appliances and support vehicles had been deployed to the scene.
In a subsequent post at 4.15am, SCDF said that fires involving piles of waste materials are typically deep-seated and difficult to extinguish quickly.
At 5.05am, SCDF updated that its firefighters were facing "a few challenges" due to the warehouse's zinc roof.
"As hot air rises, smoke naturally accumulates underneath the roof. This resulted in a heavily smoke-logged condition within the warehouse, hampering breathing and visibility," SCDF said.
It added that firefighters had to be "alert and wary" at all times to the potential collapse of a section of the buckled zinc roof.
"Hence they have to work in teams and move discreetly in combating the deep-seated fire, while looking out for each other’s safety," SCDF said.
At around 6.20am, SCDF said that the fire had been confined to an area of about 600 sq m, but that firefighting was still ongoing. By 10.15am, the fire was extinguished and SCDF was "damping down" the scene of the fire.
On Tuesday, an oil storage tank on Pulau Busing, one of the islands off the southern coast of Singapore, caught fire. It took 128 firefighters more than six hours to put out the blaze.
Source: CNA/am