SINGAPORE — Shoppers and store employees at Chinatown Point were evacuated from the mall on Friday (March 12) morning after a fire broke out at a luxury bag store.

A property operations staff member at the mall was taken to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for smoke inhalation. He has since been discharged and is well, said a spokesperson for Perennial Singapore Retail Management, who manages the mall.

When TODAY arrived at the scene at around noon, the police had cordoned off the perimeter of the mall with barricade tape. 

Crowds of onlookers were gathered and seated outside the mall’s main entrance. Safe distancing ambassadors were also patrolling the mall’s perimeter. 

A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer was seen inside Luxury City, the store where the fire had broken out. The shop sells and cleans luxury bags. 

Burn marks were seen on the glass panel of the shop, which is located on the ground level.

The Perennial Singapore Retail Management spokesperson said the fire broke out at 10.15am on Friday before the store’s operating hours. 

“Our property operations team, which was the first responders on-site, entered the tenant’s unit to try to extinguish the fire before SCDF arrived.”

In response to TODAY’s queries, SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at about 10.25am.

A signboard in the store was part of the fire, which was extinguished by a sprinkler system before firefighters arrived.

SCDF said that preliminary investigations into the cause of the fire found that it was “of electrical origin”.

About 100 patrons and store operators were evacuated from the premises, it added, while one person was taken to SGH. 

The fire was put out at 10.45am.

The management is working together with the authorities to investigate the incident. Chinatown Point has resumed operations.

An employee at restaurant Monster Curry, who wanted to be known only as Siew Ling, said that there was a strong burning smell in the air at around 10.30am when the fire alarm first rang. 

“There was an announcement saying that they’re investigating the situation. Around two minutes later they made another announcement saying it was a fire,” the 17-year-old said. Monster Curry is located on the second level of the mall. 

Mr Ken Son, 24, who works at Iroha Mart located in the basement, said that people were panicking and running around after the evacuation message was played. He, too, saw a bit of smoke coming from upstairs.

A pop-up store tenant, who wanted to be known only as Mary, said she saw a blanket of fog as she was leaving the mall at around 10.30am. 

“From where I was, you could not smell the smoke through the mask,” the worker, who is in her 40s, said. Her store is located on the first floor, but on the other side of the mall.