Having a fire break out in your home can be devastating.
Forget the psychological distress of having to escape your own home—you may also have to deal with you having your belongings and prized possessions burnt to a crisp.
And that appears to be what happened in a Sengkang condominium yesterday (26 Apr).
20 People Evacuated from Sengkang Condo Due to Fire That Caused Window Panes to Shatter
A fire broke out in a unit at Compass Heights condominium yesterday, forcing the authorities to evacuate 20 people from the premises.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) detailed the incident in a Facebook post on the same day.
SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at 11 Sengkang Square at around 12:05pm.
The fire involved the contents of a bedroom in a unit on the 8th floor, SCDF said, and had also caused the bedroom’s window panes to shatter.
As you can see from the Facebook post above, much of the contents in the bedroom have been burnt black.
Firefighters eventually extinguished the fire using one water jet.
“SCDF assessed two persons who were in the affected unit at the time of the fire and they did not require medical assistance. There were no other reported injuries,” SCDF said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Built-in Fridges in Hougang Condo to be Removed After They Caused 4 Fires in 2 Months
Another fire occurred in a condominium recently, but this is unlike most of the fires you’ve read about.
Why? Because it was linked to a fridge.
Members of the public managed to put out the fire using a hose reel and a fire extinguisher before the SCDF arrived.
About 25 people were evacuated and no injuries were reported.
Before that, fires took place on 7, 14, and 26 March, as well as on 13 April.
In total, seven incidents involving fridge fires have occurred at the condominium since 2018.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the fires were caused by the failure of the refrigerator’s motor capacitor, which is a device that holds charges of electricity in refrigerators.
As a precautionary measure, Enterprise Singapore (ESG), which oversees the safety of household products, ordered the removal of all 1,377 units of these Electrolux refrigerators installed in the condo.
Electrolux denied fault, but offered “goodwill payments” to affected residents.
ESG has advised consumers to stop using these refrigerators.
Feature Image: Facebook (Singapore Civil Defence Force)