Stalls close at Newton Food Centre after fire causes power outage

SINGAPORE: A fire at Newton Food Centre on Saturday morning (Mar 16) caused a power outage at the hawker centre and forced stalls to close for the day.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to a fire at Newton Food Centre at 9.45am. 

The fire involved an electrical switch room and was extinguished using two compressed air foam backpacks and a fire extinguisher, it said.

SP Group, which supplies electricity to the centre, said that the power outage was traced to the food centre’s electrical equipment.

“At around 10am today, we were alerted that electricity supply to the Newton Food Centre was disrupted,” said SP Group.

“This has been traced to the food centre’s own electrical equipment. We confirm that SP Group’s network is in order.”

SP Group added that it dispatched its officers to the site and offered its assistance to the National Environment Agency (NEA), which manages Newton Food Centre.

Mr Gary Haris who had wanted to dine at the hawker centre told Channel NewsAsia that the stalls were still closed at 6.30pm.

“I went (to Newton Food Centre) for my dinner and was surprised unusually many stalls were closed and many people coming out of the hawker centre looking disappointed,” he said.

“One of the cleaners told me earlier in the day there was a fire at the main switch room, and they are currently investigating and trying to repair the burnt switch room equipment.”

The SCDF reported no injuries in the incident and is investigating the cause of the fire.

Channel NewsAsia has contacted NEA for more information.

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