SINGAPORE – Three people were taken to the hospital after a fire broke out in the early hours of the morning on Aug 22 at a Housing Board flat in Toa Payoh.

Firefighters were alerted to the fire in a 12th -floor unit at a Block 63 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh at 2.30am , said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in a Facebook post.

SCDF said it conducted forcible entry into the unit and the fire, which was in a living room, was extinguished with a water jet.

During the firefighting operation, firefighters rescued a person from the kitchen. The person was assessed for smoke inhalation and minor burn injuries, and taken conscious to Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

Another two people from the neighbouring units were also taken to hospitals - one to SGH for breathlessness and the other to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for an injured ankle.

About 50 people from the affected block were evacuated by the police and SCDF as a precautionary measure.

Preliminary findings indicated that the fire had involved a personal mobility device (PMD) in the living room, said SCDF.

In its post , SCDF reminded the public not to leave batteries or devices charging for prolonged periods or leave the batteries to charge unattended overnight.

The public is also advised not to purchase or use non-original batteries.

There have already been 20 such fires involving PMDs in the first half of 2025, up from 10 in the same period in 2024.

In early August,

two people died after a fire in a flat in Jalan Bukit Merah

. A 34-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were found unconscious in the kitchen of a fourth-floor unit by SCDF.

SCDF said the fire may have started from a PMD battery pack in the living room.

According to SCDF statistics, there have been

eight fire-related deaths

so far in 2025 – an increase from five in 2024, and three in 2023.

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