SINGAPORE: Firefighters with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) are battling a warehouse fire in Kranji, in the second major industrial fire in three days.
At least 70 firefighters were deployed early Thursday morning (Mar 22) to tackle the blaze at 11 Kranji Crescent, SCDF said in a Facebook post at around 3.10am.
The firefighters faced tricky conditions including a buckled zinc roof and smoke-logged surroundings, the post said.
“The fire involving piles of waste materials is contained within a warehouse,” SCDF said in a later post, adding that 16 firefighting appliances and support vehicles had been deployed to the scene.
In a subsequent post at 4.15am, SCDF said that fires involving piles of waste materials are typically deep-seated and difficult to extinguish quickly.
At 5.05am, SCDF updated that its firefighters were facing “a few challenges” due to the warehouse’s zinc roof.
“As hot air rises, smoke naturally accumulates underneath the roof. This resulted in a heavily smoke-logged condition within the warehouse, hampering breathing and visibility,” SCDF said.
At least 70 firefighters were deployed to battle a warehouse blaze in Kranji. (Photo: SCDF)
It added that firefighters had to be “alert and wary” at all times to the potential collapse of a section of the buckled zinc roof.
“Hence they have to work in teams and move discreetly in combating the deep seated fire, while looking out for each other’s safety,” SCDF said.
At around 6.20am, SCDF said that the fire had been confined to an area of about 600 sq m, but that firefighting was still ongoing.
On Tuesday, an oil storage tank on Pulau Busing, one of the islands off the southern coast of Singapore, caught fire. It took 128 firefighters more than six hours to put out the blaze.
