10 people, including policeman, taken to hospital for smoke inhalation after Yishun flat fire engulfs rooms across 3 floors

SINGAPORE — Ten people, including a police officer, were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation on Tuesday (June 29) morning after a fire broke out at a public housing block in Yishun.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that it was alerted at 8.30am to the blaze at Block 141 Yishun Ring Road.

The fire had engulfed the master bedrooms of three flats on the third, fourth and fifth floors.

Although the blaze was contained in the master bedrooms, the resulting thick smoke had damaged other parts of the three flats, SCDF said in a Facebook post.

Firefighters extinguished the fire in the bedrooms with three water jets. 

“At the height of the firefighting operation, an additional water jet was used from the exterior of the block to suppress the fire, which was leaping out from the third- and fourth-floor bedroom windows,” SCDF said.

About 100 residents from the second to 10th storeys of the block evacuated on their own before SCDF officers arrived.

Five of its off-duty officers who were in the vicinity showed up to support the firefighting operation, SCDF said.

Investigations are ongoing into the cause of the fire.

Speaking to the media at the block’s void deck, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who is a Member of Parliament for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency, said that the occupants of several “badly affected” units had been given temporary shelter at Chong Pang Community Club.

He added that temporary housing had been provided to people in the affected units.

“Tonight, they have a place to stay and then we will, of course, talk to them about further assistance,” he said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NATASHA MEAH