SINGAPORE: A person was taken to hospital after a power-assisted bicycle (PAB) caught fire in the early hours of Sunday (March 22).
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in response to queries from The Straits Times that it was alerted to the incident in Balestier Road at about 12.15am that day.
The fire was put out with a hose reel and one person was taken to Singapore General Hospital.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, SCDF added.
In a picture posted in Facebook group Professional PHV Drivers Singapore: Grab, Gojek, Tada n Ryde, a picture of a PAB engulfed in flames by the road can be seen. A man is also seen standing beside the fire. Thick, dark smoke is visibly emitting from the site.
In 2025, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said in a written reply to parliamentary questions that there were 187 fires involving active mobility devices over the last five years.
Of these, about 46 per cent involved personal mobility devices (PMDs), 42 per cent PABs and 12 per cent personal mobility aids.
On Jan 3, 20 people were evacuated from a Housing Board block near Telok Blangah after a fire involving a PAB. The fire in Block 108 Bukit Purmei Road was extinguished with two water jets, said SCDF.
Preliminary findings indicate that the fire most likely originated from the battery of a PAB in the bedroom. - The Straits Times/ANN
