About 50 people evacuated after fire at HDB flat in Woodlands

SINGAPORE — Fifty people were evacuated from a public housing block in Woodlands after a flat there caught fire on Monday afternoon (Feb 7). 

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post that it was alerted to a fire at Block 688F Woodlands Drive 75 at 1.25pm on Monday that was "raging in the bedroom of a unit on the 14th floor". 

"Firefighters conducted forcible entry into the unit and extinguished the fire with one water jet." 

About 50 people in nearby neighbouring flats were evacuated from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) block as a precautionary measure, and there were no reported injuries, SCDF added.

Video footage of the incident was posted by TikTok user @sgxiaohujun, which shows an intense blaze engulfing the flat’s windows and thick black smoke rising to flats above.

Midway through the video, parts of the window and sunshade broke off and fell. 

This is not the only fire that has been reported at public housing blocks over the past weeks. 

On Jan 28 and 29, fires broke out at three separate public housing blocks, resulting in three people being taken to hospital.  

On Jan 31, about 50 people were forced to evacuate an HDB block in Toa Payoh after a fire broke out. 

Preliminary investigations by SCDF indicated that the fire at Toa Payoh originated from the battery pack of a power-assisted bicycle.