SCDF puts out fire near Lim Chu Kang Chinese Cemetery after 19 hours

Firefighters from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) took 19 hours to extinguish the blaze near Lim Chu Kang Chinese Cemetery, one of the longest operations involving a vegetation fire here.

Fortunately, no graves were damaged in the fire that started on Monday morning and was put out only yesterday, the National Environment Agency told The New Paper.

Eight emergency vehicles and 52 firefighters were deployed in the overnight operation.

SCDF, which responded to an alert at about 7.05am on Monday, said the fire covered the length of one football field and involved piles of timber in thick vegetation, which, given the windy conditions, made the operation challenging.

Water supply was initially provided by two bush firefighting modules and two fire engines.

And 25 of the firefighters from the Special Rescue Unit had to manually lay hoses to maintain a constant water supply as the nearest fire hydrants were about 2km away, said SCDF.

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Portable pumps were also set up at intermediate points to boost water pressure.

The fire was finally extinguished at about 2am yesterday.

In a final update on Facebook yesterday morning, SCDF said damping down operations were still going on to prevent the fire from rekindling.

SCDF thanked the public for their support, and the Facebook posts received more than 1,000 likes and positive comments from netizens.

Statistics released by SCDF showed the number of vegetation fires rose sharply by 59.8 per cent from 368 cases in 2017 to 588 last year.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.