Northshore Primary School at Punggol Caught Fire at Night Due to Electrical Distribution Board

Primary school premises are usually the quietest at night.

So imagine the shock when a primary school caught fire at 9pm.

Here’s what happened.

Northshore Primary School at Punggol Caught Fire at Night Due to Electrical Distribution Board

On Wednesday evening (16 October), an electrical distribution board on the first floor of a primary school at Punggol caught fire. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived at the scene and extinguished the blaze, with no reported injuries.

The fire incident occurred around 8:50 pm at Northshore Primary School along Northshore Drive in Punggol.

An eyewitness who lives across from the school told Lianhe Zaobao that she saw several SCDF fire engines and police cars at the school when she returned home at 9:15 pm.

“At that time, white smoke was coming out from the first floor, and there was a burnt smell in the air, but I didn’t see any flames,” she said.

The SCDF said that they received an alert at 8:50 pm and that the fire involved an electrical distribution board inside a first-floor office. Firefighters used two water jets to extinguish the fire.

The cause of the electrical box fire has not been disclosed.

How Electrical Distribution Board Could Cause Fire

An electrical distribution board can cause a fire if there is a fault within the system that leads to overheating or sparking.

One common cause is loose connections or faulty wiring, which can generate excess heat. Over time, this heat can cause insulation materials to degrade, leading to exposed wires that might spark and ignite nearby flammable materials.

Another contributing factor is an overloaded circuit; if too much current flows through the wires beyond their rated capacity, it can cause overheating, ultimately resulting in a fire.

This can be aggravated by improper installation or lack of regular maintenance checks, which might miss signs of wear and potential hazards.