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SINGAPORE – Housing Board (HDB) estates that do not have signs indicating designated entry and exit points for emergency vehicles will soon receive such signs.
This follows a fire at The Peak @ Toa Payoh last month, when a firefighting vehicle was unable to access the estate because it inadvertently attempted to enter the area through a designated exit point.
The exit point did not have sufficient turning radius and clearance for the vehicle to enter the farm, where a morning fire in Block 138C Lorong 1A Toa Payoh on August 29 led to the evacuation of some 300 people and three people taken to the hospital with burns. injuries and smoke inhalation.
The farm does not have signs indicating the entry and exit points for emergency vehicles, as it was built in 2012, before the Fire Code that requires such signage was updated in 2018.
The Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said on Wednesday (September 9) that the other 10 of its 11 vehicles deployed to The Peak had arrived at the scene without problems through the designated emergency vehicle entrance. He had been alerted to the fire at 2.55 a.m. that day.
The fire involved the contents of a unit on the 20th floor, and also affected a unit directly above it, on the 21st floor.
SCDF said it is working with HDB to post signs at The Peak and other HDB developments that similarly have designated entry and exit points, required by the 2007 Fire Code, but not the signs.
The Straits Times has contacted HDB and SCDF for more information on when the posters will be up.
SCDF also said its firefighters had been unable to use a wet riser in Block 138C during the fire because it was not working, and on September 4 ordered the Bishan-Toa Payoh City Council to rectify it.
In response, the city council said Wednesday that after the August 29 fire, its fire protection contractor inspected the wet riser system and found it was “working fine.”
He added that the wet riser was last checked on August 26, three days before the fire, and that his contractor’s report “showed that the wet pipe system was in order.”
The city council hired an engineer to investigate why the wet riser was “out of water” on Aug. 29, and the findings will be shared later.
SCDF said it is also investigating the cause of the malfunction and will “take further enforcement action against responsible parties when necessary.”
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