Smoke seen rising from Changi Airport turns out to be hot fire drill
Smoke billowing from Changi Airport, as shown in a viral TikTok video, turned out to be a fire drill.
User @thequeenlettuce posted the video on Wednesday (22 Oct), with the caption “What’s happening at Singapore Airport?”
Source: @thequeenlettuce on TikTok
Smoke visible from Changi Airport Terminal 1
The TikTok video showed thick smoke emitting from an area visible from Changi Airport Terminal 1.
The user who posted the video, identified as Lettuce, told MS News that she saw the trail of smoke at about 1.30pm on Wednesday (22 Oct).
“I was seated at the gate after security at Terminal 1 at Gate 30,” said the original poster (OP).
“When I looked at Google Maps, I assumed it was in the area where they’re building the new terminal.”
Netizens joked that SATS was ‘cooking char kuay teow’
As the clip made rounds on social media, some viewers joked that SATS Catering — which provides food services to many airlines — was “cooking char kuay teow.”
Source: TikTok
Others, however, were convinced the video was AI-generated, even though the OP insisted it was not.
“It’s genuinely concerning, it’s showing that the public can’t tell between what’s real or AI anymore,” she told MS News. “I was sitting there with my own eyes.”
Source: TikTok
Changi Airport explained that it was a hot fire drill
In response to media enquiries from MS News, Changi Airport Group (CAG) confirmed that the smoke seen in the video was part of a scheduled emergency exercise.
“What you see in the video was a hot fire drill that happened yesterday afternoon,” a CAG spokesperson said.
A hot fire drill is a simulated emergency exercise that involves real fire.
Source: Changi Airport website
“It is part of regular training for our Airport Emergency Service officers.”
As part of their training, officers from the Airport Emergency Service (AES) are required to extinguish fire in an aircraft simulator.
They must also extricate casualties while battling high temperatures and acrid smoke.
Source: Changi Airport website
Similar drills have gone viral before
This is not the first time such drills have caused confusion.
In Sept 2022, another clip showing thick smoke near Changi Airport Terminal 1 also went viral. CAG later clarified that it was from a fire drill.
Source: Facebook
Also read: 56-year-old woman dies after reported fall from height at Jewel Changi Airport
56-year-old woman dies after reported fall from height at Jewel Changi Airport
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Featured image adapted from @thequeenlettuce on TikTok and Changi Airport on Facebook. Image on the right is for illustration purposes only.
