313@somerset mall reopens after fire on Thursday night
SINGAPORE — The 313@somerset shopping mall at Orchard Road has re-opened, after a fire on Thursday night prompted a temporary closure for tests and cleaning on Friday (Dec 16) morning.
The mall reopened at 1.30pm, after testing, clean up and rectification works were completed, the mall said in a statement on Friday. "We are working closely with the authorities to investigate the cause of the incident," Ms Cheryl Goh, the general manager for the mall, was quoted saying in the statement.
She did not give details on how the fire could have started.
A video posted on Instagram on Thursday night showed shoppers being evacuated as smoke filled the mall.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at about 10.25pm, and despatched two fire engines, two red rhinos, two fire bikes, one ambulance and five support vehicles. When TODAY arrived at about 11.30pm, the fire had been extinguished.
One woman was conveyed conscious to Singapore General Hospital as she tripped and fell, said the SCDF.
The SCDF said the fire involved contents of a store room inside a shop on the fourth floor. The cause of fire is under investigation
According to eyewitnesses, the fire started from the Rip Curl shop on the fourth floor.
An employee at Chinese restaurant Hai Di Lao Hot Pot located on the fourth floor said he saw smoke coming out of the Rip Curl store. “I was going to the toilet and there was a strong smoke smell and there was fire from the Rip Curl shop. Then, I heard a sound like an explosion,” said Mr Huang Wei in Mandarin.
Shop employee Sophie Mohtar, 27, said an announcement was made around 10.10pm, asking people to evacuate the mall. She said the fire spread to half of the fourth level.
Shop employees were later allowed to enter the building at about 12.45am.
Police and SCDF vehicles seen outside the mall. Photo: Faris Mokhtar
This is at least the fourth fire-related incident to occur in the Orchard Road area this year.
On Oct 17, Wisma Atria shopping mall had to be evacuated after a fire broke out in a second floor unit. Four people were sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation at the time.
On March 16, fires broke out in two Orchard Road hotels about 14 hours apart from each other – one on a roof of Marriott hotel at Tang Plaza and the other in a kitchen in Mandarin Orchard.
