Two children taken to hospital after fire at Yishun flat, 50 residents evacuated

SINGAPORE: Two children were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat in Yishun on Friday (Nov 7) afternoon. 

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at Block 128 Yishun Street 11, at about 1.20pm.

The bedroom of a second-floor unit was ablaze when first responders arrived.

"Firefighters entered the smoke-filled unit and extinguished the fire with a water jet,” SCDF said in a Facebook post.

Three people in the unit had already evacuated before SCDF arrived.

Two people from the flat were assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, it said.

During his visit to the scene, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who is also an MP for Nee Soon GRC, told CNA that two children had been taken to hospital for observation.

According to the minister, five children and their parents lived in the flat. 

Speaking to members of the media, Mr Shanmugam said the fire was extinguished within 10 minutes and that the neighbouring units were not affected.

While the fire damage within the affected unit was "somewhat extensive", SCDF officers arrived and "put out the fire very fast", said Mr Shanmugam, who arrived at the scene at about 4.30pm and immediately approached the affected family.

Mr Shanmugam added: "The room where the fire probably started is very badly damaged. The other rooms are not so badly damaged."

Temporary accommodation in another block has been found for the family, and concerns about repair costs will be discussed.

Mr Shanmugam also said that "a lot more" public education is needed on fire safety.

"There are about a million HDB units. So it's a huge number. With that, you can expect that there will be incidents, some accidents," he said.

After speaking to the affected family, Mr Shanmugam spoke to firefighters, before heading up to the affected unit.

About 50 people from the affected block were evacuated as a precautionary measure, said SCDF.

“Preliminary findings indicate that the fire had likely originated from a lighted material in the affected bedroom,” it added.

When CNA arrived at the scene 3.55pm, police officers were at the foot of the block, which was mostly cordoned off with police tape.

There was one fire engine left at the scene. 

Most residents had already returned home, but a handful were at the void deck of the opposite block.

Ms Jowyn Tay, who lives two doors down from the affected unit, said she initially heard crying and screaming "but didn't pay much attention to it". 

It was only when she walked to the main door that she saw her neighbour running towards her, pleading with her to call SCDF. 

"It was also my first time encountering this and I was also panicking," she said, adding that she was concerned for the safety of her mother, who is in a wheelchair, and her daughter. 

"I couldn't really see the fire, but I could see smoke. The smoke was not that intense, but it spread quite fast. It all happened in a split second." 

She handed a small fire extinguisher from her home to a male neighbour, but the heat was too intense for him to help. 

"So we quickly evacuated. Some neighbours went upstairs to alert other neighbours," Ms Tay said. 

Ms Siti Bugis, a helper living on the third floor, was at home with her employer's six-year-old son and 65-year-old mother when the fire broke out. 

"I went to the kitchen because I thought it was the stove, but saw smoke coming out from the window below," she said. 

"The smoke was very strong and the boy couldn't breathe. So I took him and the grandma down." 

The three residents waited for about two hours before they were allowed back into the unit.