One person dies in fire at Canberra Crescent; 30 people evacuated

Source: The Straits Times
Author: Carmen Sin

SINGAPORE - One person was found dead in a burning bedroom after a fire broke out in a housing board flat in Canberra Crescent, Sembawang, on Feb 24.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at Block 131C Canberra Crescent at 12.45pm.

Firefighters from Yishun Fire Station arrived to find black smoke billowing from a unit on the third floor and forced their way into the smoke-logged flat, SCDF said in a Facebook post.

The blaze is believed to have started in the bedroom, where the deceased was found and pronounced dead at the scene by an SCDF paramedic.

Firefighters extinguished the flames with a water jet.

Police and SCDF also evacuated about 30 people from the second- and fourth-floor units as a precaution.

Paramedics assessed three people from neighbouring flats for smoke inhalation, after which one person was taken to Singapore General Hospital.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

According to SCDF's latest annual statistics report, there were close to 2,000 fires reported in 2023, marking an 8.6 per cent increase from the 1,799 blazes in 2022.

The top two causes were electrical fires and unattended cooking flames.

Fires sparked by mobility devices - personal mobility devices (PMDs), power-assisted bicycles (PABs) and personal mobility aids - also spiked, reversing a three year decline from 2019 to 2022.