30 people evacuated after fire breaks out in Kovan home
An adjacent house was partially damaged by the fire.
On September 5, thirty individuals were evacuated from a two-story house in Kovan after a fire broke out, causing partial damage to an adjacent residence and producing dense smoke. The incident occurred around 3pm, prompting the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) to respond and deploy three water jets to suppress the flames. One resident managed to evacuate prior to SCDF's arrival.
To ensure safety, the police and SCDF evacuated approximately thirty people from neighboring units as a precautionary measure. A person from one of these nearby homes required medical attention for smoke inhalation and was transported to Singapore General Hospital.
Firefighters are working to damp down the affected area to prevent any potential rekindling of the fire. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation. At the time of the report, thick plumes of smoke were visible billowing from the house, enveloping the surrounding area. SCDF personnel, including a Light Fire Attack Vehicle commonly known as the Red Rhino, and police were present at the scene.
Vincent Lim, 74, chairman of Phoh Kiu Siang T'ng temple, who resides just a few doors down from the affected house, was the first to notice the fire around 3pm. He immediately contacted SCDF and rushed to aid the residents, an elderly couple in their 80s. An elderly man was subsequently wheeled away from the scene by an SCDF officer and taken to a waiting vehicle.
In February, a similar incident occurred in Kovan when six individuals were rescued from a fire in a two-story condominium unit, with three of them requiring hospitalization, one suffering from burns. Singapore's fire statistics reveal a 3% increase from 1,990 cases in 2024 to 2,050 cases in 2025, with 1,051 of those fires involving residential buildings. Unattended cooking and electrical fires, such as faults in wiring or overloaded sockets, continue to be the primary causes of home fires.
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