SINGAPORE: Two people were taken to hospital and 150 others evacuated from their homes after a fire broke out at Great World Serviced Apartments in River Valley on Wednesday (Aug 21).
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post that it was alerted to the fire in an 18th floor unit at 4.50pm, which its firefighters extinguished using a water jet.
The kitchen was damaged by the fire, and the rest of the unit suffered heat and soot damage.
No one was inside the unit at the time of the fire, while two people from neighbouring units were assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to Singapore General Hospital.
About 150 people had evacuated the block before SCDF’s arrival.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that the fire is likely to have been caused by cooking left unattended,” SCDF said, adding a reminder that people should not to leave their cooking unattended, even for a short while.
In February, the SCDF released its annual statistics report, which found that there were 1,954 cases of fire in 2023 – an 8.6 per cent increase from 1,799 cases in 2022.
The top two causes were electrical fires and unattended cooking, with 597 and 456 cases respectively. - The Straits Times/ANN
