SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)
said it responded to nearly 2,200 fires in the first six months of
this year.
It is an eight per cent decrease from the nearly
2,400 fires for the same period last year.
The SCDF said this is the lowest figure recorded for
a six-month period in more than a decade.
Fires in residential premises contributed to 75 per cent of total
fire incidents.
Rubbish fires formed the bulk.
The SCDF said while the number of rubbish fires continue to be
high, there was a drop of about 56 cases - to 647 cases - for the
first six months of this year as compared to the same period last
year.
At commercial premises, 145 fires were recorded - a dip of eight
per cent compared to the same period last year.
However, the number of injuries in the first six months rose by 34,
to 73 persons.
Three people died in fire incidents in that period - two from an
industrial fire at Benoi Road, and the third in a residential unit
at Marine Terrace.
The SCDF said Emergency Ambulance Service (EAS) calls remain
high.
It responded to 65,256 ambulance calls, an increase of 5.5 per cent
over the 61,828 calls for the same period last year.
Emergency calls made up 96 per cent of total calls, while the
remaining 1.9 per cent was for non-emergency situations.
False alarms made up another 2.4 per cent of total calls.
There were also more trauma cases, especially road traffic
accidents calls, an increase of 11.3 per cent compared to the same
period last year.
- CNA/cc