SINGAPORE: Residents of a Housing Board block at Ubi Avenue 1 were evacuated late Friday (May 30) after a fire broke out, with some people reporting an explosion.
The incident happened at Block 301, Ubi Avenue 1, where some residents were evacuated as a safety precaution.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted at 11.35pm to the fire, which involved contents of a food stall in a coffee shop on the first floor.
The fire was extinguished by SCDF using two water jets, and a few other stalls also sustained heat and smoke damage.
One person was assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to the hospital.
Member of Parliament of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC Faishal Ibrahim said in a Facebook post that the fire was put out swiftly by SCDF. He added that 76 residents were evacuated.
A resident, who identified herself as Ms Ng, said her flat was hit by a blackout at about 11.45pm.
She told CNA: “We felt calm because we didn’t see any flames, we just saw a big cloud of smoke coming from the coffeeshop area.”
“Before the explosion, we already heard the siren.”
Another resident, Mr Zulkifli, said he was in his kitchen when he smelled the smoke.
“When I went down, there was still no fire. Shortly after, there was a small fire, and a big fire, and then an explosion. The whole block tripped after that,” he said.
Residents at Touch Ubi hostel, a residential training hostel for adults with mild intellectual disabilities located near the coffee shop, were evacuated as well.
