Two fires break out on first morning of Chinese New Year
PUBLISHED ONJanuary 25, 2020 9:51 AMByPrisca Ang
Two fires broke out on Saturday morning (Jan 25), the first day of Chinese New Year, but no injuries were reported.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) deployed 10 emergency vehicles and 30 firefighters to put out a fire in a two-storey supermarket in Bedok North.
SCDF said in a Facebook post that it was alerted to the fire at Block 539A Bedok North Street 3 at about 11.35am.
The non-residential unit was heavily smoke-logged upon SCDF's arrival.
Amid poor visibility, firefighters wearing breathing apparatus sets and armed with water jets entered the unit to locate the fire and anyone who could be trapped within.
"Firefighters had to proceed cautiously on the second-floor as a large area had been extensively damaged," SCDF said.
The fire, which destroyed the contents on the second floor of the supermarket, was extinguished by SCDF with one water jet.
[embed]https://www.facebook.com/SCDFpage/posts/10156484542320583[/embed]
Damping down operations - the application of water to wet burnt surfaces immediately after a fire is put out, to prevent potential rekindling of fire from hot burnt surfaces - are ongoing.
In a separate incident the same morning, SCDF was alerted at about 11.40am to a fire in a flat at Block 672 Hougang Avenue 8.
By the time firefighters arrived at the scene, 25 people had self-evacuated.
The fire which happened in the living room was put out with a water jet, SCDF told The Straits Times.
SCDF is investigating the cause of both fires.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.