Fire breaks out at Bedok North unit, likely originated from battery pack of charging Power Assisted Bicycle
Three occupants of affected unit were assessed for smoke inhalation, with two of them being brought to Singapore General Hospital
SINGAPORE – Residents of Block 202 Bedok North Street 1 were greeted with the sight of a raging fire and black smoke in the wee hours of Tuesday morning (13 February).
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) shared in a Facebook post that they were alerted at 3.45am of a fire along the common corridor outside an 11th-floor unit of the HDB flat. The occupants of the affected unit had been evacuated before the firefighters arrived, and the fire was eventually put out using a fire extinguisher.
Three of the occupants of the affected unit were assessed for smoke inhalation, and two of them were brought to Singapore General Hospital. The remaining person declined to be sent to the hospital.
SCDF said that preliminary investigations indicated that the fire had likely originated from the battery back of a Power Assisted Bicycle (PAB) that was charging outside the unit.
According to The Straits Times, residents of the blocks shared that the occupants of the affected unit were a Thai family of four, and one of the members was a food delivery rider who used the PAB.
The English daily reported that there was no significant damage to any of the 10 three-room flats along the affected floor. Damaged electrical wiring and lights along the corridor had also been replaced by town council workers by 5pm on Tuesday.
However, the walls and ceilings of about half the units were still blackened with soot. The affected unit’s windows were also melted or shattered, with only the frames left intact.
The fire started with a loud bang
Eileen See, who stays next to the affected unit, told The Straits Times that she had heard a loud bang at around 3am when she had woken up to use the restroom.
The 63-year-old cleaner looked outside and saw that a fire had broken out next door. She then called SCDF for help before leaving her home. She was told it was safe to return to her unit at around 5am.
Another neighbour, who declined to be named, told ST that her daughter-in-law had also heard the loud bang and woke her up. She said that the scene at that time was chaotic and she helped a woman in her 20s, who had burn injuries and a soot-covered face, to evacuate from the affected unit.
Several residents had tried to put out the fire after it broke out. A neighbour, who only wanted to be known as Ng, said that four of the residents on the same floor had sought shelter in her home, as her unit was located a distance away from the affected unit. One of them was from the affected flat and had run over barefoot with her five-year-old daughter who was covered in a blanket.
Risks of charging PAB batteries over extended periods
The SCDF reminded the public that they should not charge the batteries of PABs or personal mobility devices (PMD) for extended periods or overnight to prevent fires. They should also not purchase or use non-original batteries.
In March last year, a PMD that was charging caught fire along the second-floor corridor of a HDB rental flat in Pipit Road. In 2021, a 20-year-old man died in a fire of electrical origin from a PMD in a lift at a HDB block in Woodlands.
A record 73 PMD-related fires broke out in the first nine months of 2019. This includes two fires that happened on the same day, 8 June 2019, due to PMDs in Ang Mo Kio and Marine Terrace. The latter incident saw a casualty who suffered burn injuries and was conveyed to Singapore General Hospital.
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