No additional requirements for Fire Code, in light of Jurong West market blaze: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE — There is no need to impose additional fire safety standards on all wet markets, despite a recent blaze which gutted the Jurong West market, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Monday (Nov 7).


In a written response to a Parliamentary question from Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Associate Professor Daniel Goh on the aftermath of the Jurong West fire, Mr Shanmugam noted that “the deliberate act here is more appropriately dealt with as a criminal act”.


“SCDF’s assessment is that there is no need for additional Fire Code requirements on all wet markets,” the minister added.


The pre-dawn fire on Oct 11 obliterated the 30-year-old wet market at Block 493, causing the roof of the wet market to collapse, and badly damage an adjacent coffee shop. Around 45 stallholders were affected by the blaze.


Lim Ying Siang, a 41-year-old Singaporean man, has been charged for alleged arson. 


According to Mr Shanmugam, investigations at the market showed that several styrofoam and cardboard boxes at two different stalls were set on fire. The fire spread quickly from these two areas to the other parts of the market, and took about two hours to put out.


Assoc Prof Goh asked if the presence of automatic sprinkler systems at the market and coffeeshop would have slowed or stopped the fire from spreading.


In his response, Mr Shanmugam said it was not mandatory for wet markets like the one in Jurong West, which was designed to be well ventilated and was not enclosed, to be equipped with fire sprinklers.


He added: “The SCDF adopts a risk-based approach in prescribing mandatory fire safety requirements for building premises. Automatic fire sprinklers have not been a requirement for all buildings.
“Such systems are useful in controlling fire spread in higher risk premises, such as those with a large open floor area of more than 4,000 sq m, high-rise enclosed buildings of more than 24m in height, or enclosed basements.”