A fire broke out inside a seventh-floor HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio on Sep. 22, forcing residents to evacuate while emergency responders worked to bring the blaze under control.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at Block 254 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 at around 10.45am.
When firefighters arrived, black smoke was seen coming from the living room of the affected unit. The fire involved items inside the living room and was eventually extinguished using a water jet.
Two occupants were found inside bedrooms during the firefighting operation and were assisted out of the flat by SCDF personnel.
Two residents taken to hospital after fire
The two occupants were assessed for possible smoke inhalation and subsequently taken to Singapore General Hospital for medical attention.
Around 20 residents from the block were also evacuated by the police and SCDF as a precaution while the firefighting operation was taking place.
One SCDF firefighter was separately assessed for heat exhaustion and taken to Woodlands Hospital as a precaution. He was later discharged on the same day.
No serious injuries were reported in connection with the incident.
The actual cause of the fire remains under investigation by the authorities.
Automatic mahjong table suspected to have started blaze
The owner of the affected flat, identified by Shin Min Daily News as a 51-year-old man surnamed Zhuang, said he suspected that an automatic mahjong table in the living room may have been where the fire started.
Zhuang told Shin Min that his family had purchased the table from a shopping mall around a year earlier for more than S$800.
However, he said the table was not connected to a power socket when the fire occurred and did not use batteries, leaving him unsure how the appliance could have caught fire.
The homeowner said the living room and master bedroom suffered extensive damage