A manhole in Bishan was emitting black smoke and sounds of explosions, resulting in 30 residents in the vicinity being evacuated by the Singapore Civil Defence Force as a precaution, according to Lianhe Zaobao.
The SCDF received a call for help on 22 February near a manhole in Bishan, and when officers arrived at the site, they found burn marks inside the manhole but there wasn’t a fire.
30 residents were evacuated and no injuries were reported.
The SCDF said that they received a call for help on 22 February at about 11.20 am, at a manhole near 34 Binchang Rise.
Firefighters used a thermal imager after arriving at the scene and detected a heat signature coming from a manhole nearby.
They then opened the manhole cover but found no fire, however, they did find some burn marks on the insulation sleeves of some of the electrical cables.
About 30 residents were evacuated by the SCDF and the police as a safety precaution, and the SCDF’s Hazardous Materials Response Team were also deployed.
They pumped water into the manhole in a bid to cool it down, before checking for any presence of dangerous substances using a detector.
The immediate area was also cordoned off within a 100-metre radius before the authorities left the scene about 5 hours later.
One of the residents told the Chinese paper that his family heard loud explosion sounds at about 11.10 am and he left his home to check out what was happening.
He said that although the manhole cover didn’t fly out, black smoke kept emanating out of the sewer.
The SCDF is currently investigating the incident.