Man, 44, arrested after fire at Joo Seng Road HDB flat; 8 taken to hospital

A 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of mischief by fire after a blaze broke out in an 18th-floor HDB unit at Joo Seng Road on Monday night (May 4), with eight people taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the blaze at about 9.40pm on Monday night. The fire engulfed the entire unit at Block 14 Joo Seng Road and was put out with two water jets.

Three people had evacuated from the affected unit before SCDF's arrival. The eight injured were assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to Singapore General Hospital (SGH). 

Two firefighters who felt unwell during the operation were also taken to SGH as a precaution.

The police told AsiaOne that a 44-year-old man was arrested at the scene for mischief by fire and investigations are ongoing.

Neighbours helped wheelchair-bound residents down the stairs

Nur'ain Ismail, 46, was in her second-floor bedroom when she heard shouting and a loud thud outside her window.

"I heard my neighbours shouting 'Fire! Fire!'" she told AsiaOne.

"By the time I opened the door, everybody was already walking down the staircase. We just grabbed whatever we needed and evacuate."

It was chaotic, she said.

Neighbours helped one another out, including elderly residents in wheelchairs who had to be carried down the stairs.

Residents first gathered at the carpark, where a Residents' Network (RN) member directed them to register at the RN centre opposite, at Block 15, so everyone could be accounted for.

An elderly couple and their adult son live in the affected unit, Madam Nur'ain said. She saw the elderly man, who has a heart condition, being attended to by paramedics near the letterbox area before he was taken to the RN centre for further assessment.

Another resident, Fiona Ho, 58, was tending to her cat when her brother told her someone was knocking loudly at their door.

"At first, I told him to ignore it." she said.

"But the knocking got louder. When my brother opened the door, the person said there was a fire and we had to go down. I could smell the smoke."

She gathered carriers for her eight cats and a bird. Her father took the bird down first, while she and her brother made several trips up and down the stairs with the cats. A police officer later helped her bring the last few down, one by one.

Downstairs, she met the neighbour from the affected unit. "I asked her what happened, which unit was on fire. She told me it was her house."

The neighbour said her son had been burning joss sticks when the house caught on fire.

The fire was "very, very horrible", Ho said, with thick smoke coming from the 18th floor.

Operation stretched past midnight

When AsiaOne arrived just after midnight, 10 SCDF vehicles were seen on site, including a Water Supply Module and two Red Rhinos. Orange glow was still visible from the 18th-floor unit.

A crowd had gathered at the carpark, watching the ongoing operation, while others waited at the RN centre, where a first aid station had been set up. 

A video shared with AsiaOne by a neighbour living in the block opposite appears to show the fire starting in the living room before spreading to the rest of the unit.

@asiaone Residents describe their experiences after a fire broke out in an 18th-floor HDB unit at Block 14 Joo Seng Road on Monday (May 4) night. #sgnews #Singapore #HDB #Fire #Firefighter ♬ original sound - AsiaOne

The first batch of residents from the second to 10th floors were allowed home at 1.42am.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Potong Pasir MP Alex Yeo, who was also present at the scene, said all affected residents are safe, with those who required medical attention taken to hospital as a precaution. 

He also thanked the SCDF, Woodleigh NPC officers and HDB staff for checking the block for structural issues and arranging temporary housing for affected residents.

He also expressed his appreciation to the town council and grassroots volunteers who stayed on into the early morning to look after residents.

According to SCDF's annual statistics report published in February, there were 2,050 fires in Singapore in 2025, a 3 per cent increase from the 1,990 cases in 2024. More than half, or 1,051 cases, involved fires in residential buildings.

*This article's headline has been edited for clarity.

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Shafiq.apandi@asiaone.com