Car Catches Fire On Jalan Sultan, No Injuries Reported But Onlookers Had To Be Dispersed By The Police
Recently, there’s been a spate of cars bursting into flames suddenly, and while the incidents appear unrelated they definitely attract lots of attention.
While previous cases have taken place in the neighbourhood or expressways, the most recent one happened in the middle of town on a Saturday night.
As you can imagine, that meant many people enjoying their weekend in town ended up kaypohing at the blaze
It erupted at a road junction at Beach Road, and involved the car’s engine compartment.
SCDF alerted to fire at 7.20pm
In a statement sent to MS News, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to a car on fire on Saturday (20 Mar) night at about 7.20pm.
It was at the junction of Beach Road and Jalan Sultan, outside Steamov hotpot restaurant.
The red arrow is roughly where the car was located.
Source
At 7.27pm, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said an “accident” had occurred.
Videos of fire go viral
Due to the location and timing of the fire, many were around to witness it, and soon videos of the blaze went viral over the Internet.
One netizen took a video probably from an apartment overlooking the area.
He was amazed at how much smoke it caused, enveloping the city area.
Other witnesses on the ground took videos of the blaze apparently getting larger and spreading even to the shophouses next to the car.
Photo from video circulated over WhatsApp.
The plume of smoke from the fire was also revealed to be so high that it obscured the tall building behind.
Photo from video circulated over WhatsApp.
Several loud bangs could also be heard, which presumably came from the car’s engine exploding.
SCDF comes on the scene, puts out fire
When SCDF came on the scene, they extinguished the fire with a compressed air foam backpack and a water jet.
Several videos also captured our heroic SCDF officers handling the situation.
Police officers also helped to disperse the crowd who were getting too close for their own safety.
Photo from video circulated over WhatsApp.
Large crowd of onlookers gather
From the videos, we can see the crowd of onlookers was quite large indeed.
After all, it’s not everyday that you see a large blaze right in the middle of town.
However, the fact that Singaporeans felt safe enough to gather despite the huge fire shows that they’re confident our SCDF would put it out safely.
Fire involved engine compartment
As for those wondering about the cause of the fire, the SCDF only said that it involved the car’s engine compartment.
The precise cause is under investigation.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported from the fire, SCDF added.
The car, however, was burnt to a crisp.
As we can see from the photo, even the wall of the shophouse next to it was damaged.
Kudos to SCDF for timely action
Kudos to SCDF for their timely action of rushing to the scene and putting out the fire.
Strangely, besides this incident, other cars have also caught fire in recent months, in places like a Tampines junction, a Punggol carpark and at Geylang Serai market.
We won’t speculate on the reasons as they may vary, but these incidents show that car maintenance is important and should be done so regularly.
And if you see a similar incident happening next time, there’s nothing wrong with being curious but please do so at a safe distance.
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