Man killed in early morning fire at Jurong East flat (update)

Another person who lived in the flat managed to get out before firefighters arrived. - SCDF/FACEBOOK

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): A 48-year-old man has died after a flat in Jurong East caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning (Aug 16).

Firefighters arrived at the flat at about 2.50am, and forced their way into the smoke-filled unit to fight the blaze.

Another person who lived in the flat managed to get out before firefighters arrived, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in a Facebook post.

Three residents from a neighbouring unit were rescued by firefighters.

Jeremy Yeo, 22, who lives one floor down on the eighth storey, said he woke up to the strong smell of smoke.

He added that he knew one of the residents who lived in the affected unit – a woman who used to sell newspapers at a nearby bus stop. Yeo said: “We did not have much interactions but my sister and I would say hello to her whenever we passed each other.”

The firefighters wore breathing apparatus sets and used three water jets to put out the fire, and a special platform ladder was also deployed to help firefighting efforts, said SCDF.

It added that it is now conducting damping-down operations, which involve wetting burnt surfaces after a fire has been put out, to prevent the fire from rekindling.

An investigation into the cause of the fire has begun.

In May, three people, including a three-year-old child, died in a fire in a Bedok North flat.

In the first four months of this year, the SCDF responded to 339 fire incidents in residential premises – a 6.9 per cent drop from the 364 in the same period in 2021.