Victim rescued from Bukit Batok fire dies from injuries in hospital
Firefighters had to do an aerial rescue to get two men to safety during a fire that broke out in a Bukit Batok flat on Nov 1, 2019 (right). The flat was found cluttered with items (left).
SINGAPORE — In a tragic end to the case of a fire on Nov 1, a woman in her 60s rescued from the blaze succumbed to her injuries on Monday (Dec 9), after more than a month of treatment at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
A spokesperson from the hospital confirmed her death when contacted by TODAY.
When the fire broke out in her 13th-floor flat at Block 210A, Bukit Batok Street 21 at around 4.30am, firefighters from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) struggled to get access to the fire-hose cabinets that were padlocked to prevent vandalism.
Even after one of the padlocks were broken, they were still unable to use the hose reel because there was no water supply.
They resorted to using water from the SCDF’s emergency vehicles to extinguish the blaze.
The victim was found in her toilet at the time of the fire. She, her husband and their son were taken to hospital for burn injuries and smoke inhalation.
Her husband was discharged from the hospital about a week later, while her son was discharged about two weeks after the fire.
Mr Murali Pillai, Member of Parliament for Bukit Batok, took to Facebook on Tuesday to speak on behalf of the family of the woman he addressed as Madam Goh.
“Mdm Goh’s family asks that their privacy be respected during this trying period. Deepest condolences to them. Wishing them strength to cope with the loss of Mdm Goh,” he wrote.
Mr Murali has previously apologised over the problems with the hose reels and said that the Jurong-Clementi Town Council (JCTC) has taken disciplinary action against two officers who directed the padlocking of the hose-reel cabinets.
The town council has since been issued the Fire Hazard Abatement Notices, which serve as warnings to rectify the non-compliance. In this instance, it would mean ensuring that the hose reels are functioning and not locked, SCDF said in a statement to the media last month.
During SCDF’s inspection with town council representatives after the incident, they found out that the padlocked hose-reel cabinets and the lack of water supply arose from actions by JKeart Alliances — the contractor responsible for maintaining the fire hoses — as well as individual town council officers.
On the issue of water supply in the hose reels, the JCTC said previously in a statement that JKeart had certified all 64 hose reels in Block 210A to be in working condition after conducting maintenance checks in October.
However, investigations by the town council later revealed that JKeart had been negligent in failing to ensure that a selector switch at the pump room was in the correct mode.
A JKeart employee had turned the selector switch to manual mode during a maintenance cycle conducted two weeks before the fire and had forgotten to switch it back to auto mode.
Water supply to the hose reel is cut off when the switch is on manual mode.
