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SINGAPORE: The Sembawang Wealth God Temple will be closed until further notice after a fire engulfed its facilities on Friday (September 18) evening.
“No one was injured during this unfortunate incident,” read a post on the temple’s Facebook page. “Investigations are still ongoing.”
He added that the temple’s Hall of the God of Wealth and the Hall of the Goddess of Mercy remain intact and that they hope to reopen the temple “as soon as they can.”
“Thank you all for your concern and support,” the post read.
Nineteen emergency vehicles and about 60 firefighters were deployed to fight the blaze, which broke out on the first floor of the temple around 9.15pm on Friday night.
Screenshot of a video circulating online of a fire that broke out at the Sembawang God of Wealth Temple along Admiralty Street on September 18, 2020 (Photo: Facebook / Jerlyn).
By the time firefighters arrived on the scene, the fire was spreading to the second floor, the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said.
The fire was confined to the first and second floors of the four-story temple and was extinguished around midnight.
READ: Sembawang Wealth God Temple on fire, residents of a nearby welfare house evacuated
“SCDF firefighters were also dispatched to a nearby nursing home to assess their condition and ensure the safety of its residents,” the force said in a Facebook post. “As a security measure, the police evacuated the residents of the house.”
Hogar Acacia is a social care home for the indigent elderly.
During the evacuation, an elderly man from the house experienced shortness of breath and was evaluated by an SCDF paramedic. He was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, SCDF said.
There were no other reported injuries and residents returned to their rooms around 11:45 p.m.
In a separate Facebook post, the temple cleared up “some misinformation” about stray dogs on its premises.
After the fire, social media posts claimed the dogs were kept in cages at the temple and died in the fire because they were unable to escape.
“Our temple has a total of seven stray dogs in our care,” the temple said. “We do not chain our dogs and they are free to roam the temple grounds at night.”
Three of them died after being trapped on the second floor when the fire broke out. The remaining four managed to escape and are safe, he added.
Four stray dogs housed in the Sembawang God of Wealth Temple survived the fire. (Photo: Facebook / Sembawang God of Wealth Temple)
“We had not originally released this information because we were still awaiting confirmation from the Singapore Civil Defense Force,” the temple said. “We seek your understanding during this difficult (time).”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
