Fire engulfs
Sungei Kadut warehouse, 7 rescued
SINGAPORE: Seven people were rescued by firefighters after a
fire engulfed a three-storey warehouse in Sungei Kadut early
Wednesday morning (Nov 2).
The seven were trapped in an office building adjoining the
warehouse at 65 Sungei Kadut Loop, the Singapore Civil Defence
Force (SCDF) said. Three were rescued from the rooftop and four
from a third-floor balcony. None of them were injured.
It took 80 firefighters, using seven water jets, three hours to
put out the fire.
The SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at around 5am, and
deployed 19 firefighting vehicles, including two unmanned
firefighting machines. The fire was extinguished by 8am.
Speaking to media at the scene, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Chua
said all seven people rescued were “in good health”.
The roof of the warehouse collapsed from the blaze, LTC Chua
said, adding that the second floor of the building was slightly
damaged while the third floor was damaged by soot and heat.
As of 11am, the fire had been largely contained, but
firefighters were seen still dousing small pockets of fire across
the site.
SCDF said in an update on its Facebook page at around 1.20pm
that "damping down" operations were in progress. This refers to the
process of wetting burnt surfaces to prevent an extinguished fire
from rekindling from the hot surfaces, it explained.
Loud explosions were heard as far away as Choa Chu Kang during
the fire, according to Channel NewsAsia viewer Yap Pheng Leong, who
lives in Choa Chu Kang Crescent.
“It was raining heavily at that time and I was woken up by the
loud explosions,” Mr Yap said.
The fire had subsided by around 7am, although faint glows of
flames could still be seen, he added.
Another Channel NewsAsia viewer said the fire could be seen from
Kranji Camp. A “boom” was heard at around 5.30am from the site of
the fire, he said.
Several Twitter users posted photos and videos of the fire.
Additional reporting by Wong Woon Shin
- CNA/cy