Hazy conditions only got worse at the Paya Ubi Industrial Park when a blaze raged on in a warehouse around 5.20pm yesterday.
The fire broke out on the first floor of 3019, Ubi Road 1 — a four-storey industrial building containing multiple warehouses owned by different companies.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel arrived at the scene to find that the fire had already been fiercely raging at a corner warehouse unit on the ground floor as well as the unit directly above it. The scale of the fire also meant that the SCDF had to deploy three fire engines, two Red Rhinos, two fire bikes, six supporting vehicles, two ambulances and two drone firefighting machines.
Thick plumes of black smoke had already engulfed the entire block, adding to the already poor visibility and hazardous fumes of the haze. Despite the odds against them, the heroes managed to rescue 9 adults and an infant from the block, including a man who was trapped in a cargo lift. A lift technician even had to be escorted into the smoky building to help open the elevator.
The New Paper reports that six of them had tried to evacuate earlier, but had no choice but to lock themselves in their office on the second floor due to the heavy smoke.
The battle took a toll on one senior firefighter, who had to be conveyed to Changi General Hospital for heat exhaustion.
The fire was only extinguished completely around 8.30pm yesterday, with personnel conducting damping down operations further on till later on. Reportedly, millions of dollars worth of items had been stashed inside the now burnt down warehouse.
Investigations are currently ongoing.
Photos: SCDF Facebook page
