Man found dead after fire breaks out in Jurong East HDB block
SINGAPORE — A man has died after a fire broke out at a Jurong East flat in the wee hours of Tuesday (16 August).
The man, whom local media reports identified as aged 48, was found in a ninth-floor unit at Block 236 Jurong East Street 21 where the fire was located.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) wrote on Facebook that an occupant of the unit had self-evacuated before its arrival. It added that it was alerted to the incident at about 2.50am.
"Firefighters from Jurong and Clementi Fire Stations donning breathing apparatus sets, penetrated into the heavily smoke-logged unit to conduct firefighting operations," said the SCDF, adding that a combined platform ladder was deployed at the rear of the block for external firefighting.
Another crew of firefighters forced their way into an adjacent unit to rescue three occupants.
The fire was extinguished using three water jets and damping down operations – the application of water to wet burnt surfaces immediately after a fire is put out – are currently ongoing. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
In a separate Facebook post, Member of Parliament for Yuhua SMC Grace Fu said five residents, including the three who were rescued by the SCDF, have been displaced by the fire.
Some 60 residents were evacuated from their flats at around 2.40am, she added.
"Our utmost priority now is the well-being of all affected parties, both emotionally and financially. We are working with grassroots and other relevant agencies to arrange alternative accommodation for those affected, and take care of their other immediate needs," Fu wrote.
She added that the fire took "some time" to get under control due to the number of items stored in the affected flat.
"I would like to remind residents to be socially responsible, and not to accumulate objects which will pose fire risk to themselves and to their neighbours, and to make sure that the common corridor and stairwell are free of obstructions," Fu said.
According to the SCDF's annual statistics, there were 1,010 fire incidents across both private and public residential premises in 2021, a 4.2 per cent drop from 1054 cases in the year before. Overall, Singapore had three fire-relatied fatalities in 2021, all of which occurred on residential premises.
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