Four taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Choa Chu Kang flat

When he went outside to find out what was going on, he saw black smoke coming out of the unit opposite his.

The resident, who did not wish to be named, said an elderly woman who lives in the unit that caught fire then came out of the flat. “I ushered her into my house,” added the resident.

“We shut the door and I called the SCDF. The smoke was quite unbearable so we placed wet towels over our noses,” the resident said.

According to the resident, SCDF arrived around 15 minutes later and escorted other residents on that floor to the ground level.

Videos taken at the scene of the fire show black smoke coming out of the windows of a top-floor unit.

The walls, floor and ceiling of the unit appear severely charred in photos posted by SCDF. Exposed wires can also be seen dangling from the ceiling.

Three fire trucks can be seen parked at the foot of the block.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The top three causes of residential fires are unattended cooking, electrical faults, and lighted materials left unattended, said SCDF in its Facebook post on May 31.

The agency reminded the public not to leave cooking unattended even for a short period, to avoid overloading power sockets and not to leave devices charging overnight.

The public is also advised to ensure that lighted materials such as incense, candles or cigarettes are never left unattended, and are fully extinguished before disposal.

SCDF’s annual statistics released in February show that the total number of fires increased by 3 per cent – from 1,990 in 2024 to 2,050 in 2025. Of these, 1,051 involved fires at residential buildings.

The total number of people injured in fires increased from 80 in 2024 to 94 in 2025. There were seven fire fatalities in 2024 and six in 2025.