PMA Fire in Sembawang Causes 35 Residents to be Evacuated; Ignites Online Calls for Bans

Personal Mobility Aids (PMA) have been the Active Mobility Device (AMD) hitting article headlines most in recent weeks.

There was that group of PMA riders who attacked a woman asking them to slow down, and the delivery guy riding it on the road and rear-ending a car.

Now they’ve hit the news again but in a throwback to previous trends, over not a road incident, but fire.

35 Evacuated from PMA Fire in Sembawang

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) told Goody Feed that they were alerted to a fire at Block 482 Admiralty Link in Sembawang.

The fire occurred around 2:10 am on 15 August, involving 3 PMAs on the ground floor. The exact cause remains under investigation.

SCDF personnel extinguished the fire with a water jet while the police evacuated 35 people as a precaution.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

An anonymous user on the Facebook group “(Singapore) All grab driver/grab food rider united” posted photos of both the fire and the aftermath.

The footage showed the bicycle parking area of the block engulfed in flames. Not only were the PMAs on fire, but the place had become a bicycle BBQ, while noxious black smoke poured out into the air.

SCDF personnel could also be seen setting up their firefighting equipment, standing very close to the raging fire.

They eventually extinguished it with water from a hose.

As it turned out, PMAs were not designed to be on fire for extended periods of time.

In the aftermath, they were little more than charred ashy husks of their former glory. Some had their wheels literally burnt off.

Even the walls nearby had cracked from the sheer heat.

Other than overcooking the PMAs, the fire and smoke also blackened the exterior walls and windows of the second and third-floor units.

Well, the walls are already painted grey so it could have looked worse, I suppose.

Flames Ignited Calls for Ban on PMAs

However, the fire in the HDB void deck paled in comparison to the flames of anger on social media, where the footage spread quickly.

It’s no secret that many online Singaporeans hate all forms of AMDs and have done so for years now.

Some called for an immediate ban on all AMDs, claiming people who use them “cause issues for everyone else.”

However, others noted that as a PMA is just a motorised wheelchair, there are people in Singapore who require them and would be badly affected by such a blanket ban.

Instead, they suggested heavy regulations on PMA operation like restricting their usage to those with medical conditions only and limiting their speed.

In December 2023, the Active Mobility Advisory Panel submitted their recommendations for review of PMA regulations, including proposing that only those with medical needs can ride the mobility aids around.

Currently, these recommendations have not yet been implemented.

Netizens viewed the issue as one directly endangering the lives of people since being set on fire is typically bad for one’s health, as experts say.

One commenter urged others to speak to their MPs to bring up the issue in Parliament again.

The SCDF Annual Fire Statistics for 2023 found that 55 fires that year were caused by AMDs, an increase from 42 in 2022.

Of these, e-bikes took the lion’s share at 32 fires while PMAs caused 5 of them.

“AMD fires remain a key fire safety concern,” the SCDF wrote in the report.