News

Car That Caught Fire at HDB Car Park Was Burning So Strongly, The Smoke Can be Seen Blocks Away

2022-04-18 , 1:27 pm

At Block 108, Simei Street 1, a car burst into flames in an HDB carpark.

The pyrotechnic accident was so fiery that multiple explosions could be heard, and the dark plume of smoke that the blaze emitted could be seen from a few blocks away.

What Happened?

According to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), the fire took place last Friday afternoon (15 Apr), in between Blocks 107 and 119 on Simei Street 1.

They had been alerted around 1:30pm, before they dispatched a team to put out the fire.

From the close-up perspective, a 13-second video that was posted in Traffics accident.SG, the car burning was originally white in colour, with the front doors opened.

There are quite a number of speculations floating around about how the car caught fire, from modifications made by an under-qualified workshop, issues with the catalyzer or engine, with some jokingly commenting that they must have over pumped their petrol in Johor Bahru.

While the netizens are up to date about the usage of car jacks and Singaporeans abusing the Malaysian government subsidised Ron95 petrol, that verdict isn’t out yet.

And let it be known that the internet is a godsend for information at times, because some Singaporean Redditors who lived nearby swiftly shed some light on details surrounding the incident.

One of the Redditors even exclaimed that they nearly parked next to the burning car, but fortunately decided to park elsewhere because there wasn’t enough space.

They wrote that the white car had been occupying two lots since the front doors was open, and the car seemed to belong to two friends, one Chinese and one Indian.

From their brief encounter, they observed that the pair were loading or unloading something because the bonnet was opened.

Another netizen corroborated with the comment, stating that there were indeed three small explosions that sounded out, and the passers-by started screaming.

Fortunately, the fire department arrived a few minutes later, which places the time of the accident somewhere between 1:20pm to 1:30pm, give or take a few.

Small Silver Linings on the Black Cloud

If there’s anything to be relieved about, it is the fact that no one got hurt, not even the owners of the cars, who might have been away from the car when the fire broke out.

And because the owners were busying about and incidentally taking up more space in the parking lot than necessary, there were no cars parked nearby.

Had any other vehicle been in closer proximity, the large fire would most likely spread, thus leading to more disastrous consequences and an entire row of cars going up in flames.

Even though it’s been said that there was space between the burning car and the other vehicles nearby, the fire was edging really close in some pictures that were found online.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the metal parts closest to the inferno had melted slightly, and to the owners of said cars, please bring your cars for a diagnostics check-up ASAP.

Talk about close calls, yeesh.

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Smoke Sighted Blocks Away

If the explosions and toxic car fumes weren’t enough, and no, this isn’t some Michael Bay movie, the black smog was such a huge contrast to Singapore’s bright and humid weather that the smoke could be sighted blocks away.

It may not be as irritating as the haze days, but people at the Simei MRT station were definitely fumigated in the smell of burning diesel and metals.

One of the Facebook users even noted that they could smell it all the way from the train station, even though there is the Eastpoint Mall and two HDB flats in between, according to the locality map.

It probably didn’t smell good, and if I was one of the passengers, I’d be avoiding any kind of barbeque places for days.

Thank goodness everyone is already masked, because the passengers at the train station appear unfazed as they continue to tap away on their phones, probably texting their friends that they’re near a possible accident, but it’s pretty chill besides some filtered smoke inhalation.

SCDF to the Rescue

In timely order, the SCDF put out the fire with two hose reels.

As one might expect from a fire of that magnitude, the car was burnt to a literal crisp.

Upholstery, car plates, rubber tires and the paint job? Completely non-existent.

The car (kind of) held its shape, but there’s no hope in restoring it anymore.

The SCDF are currently investigating the cause of the fire.