SINGAPORE: Firefighters worked deep into the night on Tuesday (Mar 20) tackling a raging blaze on Pulau Busing, in what the Singapore Civil Defence Force said was expected to be an “extended firefighting operation”.
128 personnel and 31 firefighting and support vehicles were deployed for the “massive operation”, SCDF said in an update at 11.46pm, more than five hours after the fire broke out.
The fire involved an oil storage tank on Pulau Busing, one of the islands off the southern coast of Singapore, which is home to oil and chemical storage facilities.
“Radiant heat from the affected oil storage tank poses a major challenge to the firefighters as they move forward while maintaining a safe distance. Despite the challenge, SCDF firefighters and members of CERT (Company Emergency Response Team) are still pressing on,” said SCDF.
The oil storage tank that is on fire belongs to Tankstore, which has a facility on Pulau Busing for storing petroleum and petrochemical products.
The fire was “quite severe”, a Tankstore source told Reuters, asking not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
No casualties have been reported.
Photos posted on social media show a thick plume of smoke billowing from the island.
The fire involved an oil storage tank. (Photo: Crew on board vessel managed by OHC ship management)
Fire at Pulau Busing. (Photo: Crew member on board OHC Shipmanagement vessel)
A 29-year-old Channel NewsAsia reader, who did not want to be named, said she saw smoke rising from the island since 6pm.
Ms Nicky Ng, 48, told Channel NewsAsia she saw the smoke from the condominium she lives in near Harbourfront.
“It was about to rain and (we) heard thunder … when (we) looked at the sky, saw smoke in the sky and then saw it coming from the offshore island,” she said.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that there has not been any increase in pollutant levels, and that it would provide updates should there be changes in the air quality situation.
“We are monitoring the air quality closely, especially in the southwestern region of Singapore,” NEA said.
“The prevailing winds are currently blowing from the northeast and the air quality has remained in the good to moderate range,” it said.
There have also been no spikes in the PM2.5, sulphur dioxide and other air pollutant levels, it added.
