According to Today, there have been a spate of fires across housing estates in Singapore such as Bedok, Tampines, Telok Blangah, Woodlands and Toa Payoh.
These fires are usually caused by the lack of fire safety measures and it tells us that it is very easy for fire to start and spread to cause terrible damages.
Apart from keeping our homes decluttered which might be a good measure to prevent fires from spreading rapidly, it is suggested that we should all play our part in ensuring that our corridors and common staircase landings stay free from cluttering of household items.
This is because in the event of a fire, the smoke has the capabilities to affect the entire block rapidly via the stairs and prevent residents from escaping through that route.
Misusing staircase landings
Staircase landings have long often been misused by residents as storage spaces for their household items.
According to Today, it is suggested that Town Councils should conduct strict enforcement on staircase landing areas to ensure that the space is not used as storage as these are areas belonging to the public and having unnecessary cluttering of items there increases the risks of fires and mischief acts by culprits.
They can also slow down evacuation.
In the event of a fire breaking out, most residents will use the stairs too escape and this can cause a huge problem especially when the lifts are not in operation and the whole block is linked to one staircase.
According to Today, official notices should be given out by Town Councils to their residents to remove their items from the landings such as how they do with abandoned bikes in the void decks.
Once the notice period is up and the items are still there, the authorities should be enabled to remove of any unnecessary items there.
Recalcitrant who have been reminded time and again but refuse to heed the advice to remove the items should be referred to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and punished under the Fire Safety Act.
Image source: SCDF