Woman taken to hospital after fire breaks out at Rentokil Initial headquarters in MacPherson

Woman taken to hospital after fire breaks out at Rentokil Initial headquarters in MacPherson

SINGAPORE - A fire broke out at the headquarters of pest control company Rentokil Initial Singapore in MacPherson on Friday morning (Dec 21), with dense grey smoke seen billowing from the building even from hundreds of metres away.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post at 9.40am that it had been alerted to the fire in 16 Jalan Mesin.

Firefighters arrived at around 9.20am and worked to extinguish the fire that was confined to a storage area at the ground floor of the three-storey building.

A woman was taken to Raffles Hospital by an SCDF ambulance.

Seven water jets were deployed around the affected area, the SCDF said, adding that the fire was under control.

Business development director Aimee Q. Presto, 38, told The Straits Times that she heard the sound of sirens from her MacPherson home at about 9.15am.

Looking out of the window from her 10th-storey Housing Board flat, she saw three fire engines making their way to the scene, where thick, grey smoke was seen rising in the air. The area has several industrial buildings.

By around 10am, the smoke from the fire had dissipated, she said.

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In response to queries, a Rentokil Initial spokesman said that 84 employees were safely evacuated.

A female employee was taken to hospital due to a prior injury, the spokesman said, adding that the company is still investigating the cause of the fire.

The spokesman also said that all employees participate in fire drills twice a year and are trained to evacuate the building within five minutes.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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