Man sees black smoke & hears 2 explosions near workplace in Macpherson industrial estate
A man who had just moved into a new office was alarmed after seeing smoke and hearing what he described as “two explosions” near his workplace in the MacPherson area on Tuesday (17 March) afternoon.
He shared a video with MS News that showed the smoke rising continuously from a building in the distance.
Video courtesy of Janni S.
Witness calls 995 after seeing smoke & hearing explosion
The witness first posted the image on Reddit, describing the black smoke as coming from the ALS Building or a building near it.
Shortly after seeing the smoke, he heard an explosion.
He then called 995, he said, adding that they had just moved into a new office and this was “not what we expected”.
Source: r/singapore on Reddit
Witness black smoke from office balcony
Speaking to MS News, Janni S., a 46-year-old IT manager, said he saw the smoke from his office balcony at about 12.45pm.
It was actually his colleague who spotted it first, he added. They were among the few people still in the office during their lunch break.
Janni could not see the fire directly, but proceeded to record a video first, before taking photos of the scene.
The timestamp of the video seen by MS News indicated that it was taken at 12.46pm.
2 explosions heard shortly after smoke spotted
Janni also described hearing two explosions shortly after he noticed the smoke, but “no shaking” was felt.
He estimated that the first explosion was at about 12.53pm and it was “louder than the second one”.
But he acknowledged that he could not be certain if the blasts were linked to the fire, as there was a construction site nearby.
No signs of evacuation from nearby buildings
Despite the smoke, Janni said it did not appear that people were being evacuated from nearby buildings, at least not as they could see from their vantage point.
Although they were expecting to hear a fire alarm from the building, they instead saw people “walking quite close to the building, very relaxed”.
Thus, they weren’t sure if it was an actual fire and had doubts over the severity of the situation, he added.
But he decided to call emergency services anyway, reasoning:
We thought better one call to SCDF (Singapore Civil Defence Force) too many than one too less.
Later, a photo that he said was taken at 12.59pm depicted that the dark smoke had appeared to turn white, possibly indicating that the fire was being put out.
Photo courtesy of Janni S.
1 taken to hospital after fire at MacPherson industrial building
In response to queries from MS News, SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at 12.40pm on 17 March.
It took place at 627 Aljunied Road — the address of the Pacific Building, which is a stone’s throw away from the ALS Building.
Source: Google Maps
The fire involved discarded items in an open area of the premises, and was extinguished using two water jets, SCDF added.
One person was conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, while another person was assessed for minor injuries but declined to be sent to the hospital.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
Also read: Large fire breaks out at Eunos industrial estate, put out by SCDF over 5.5 hours later
Large fire breaks out at Eunos industrial estate, put out by SCDF over 5.5 hours later
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Featured image courtesy of Janni S. and Google Maps.
