SINGAPORE – Madam Yati was sleeping in her fourth-storey flat when the smell of something burning drifted in from outside and woke her up.
Flinging the door to her one-room flat open, the 69-year-old woman saw that the corridor was engulfed in smoke.
She was one of four residents of Block 106 Jalan Bukit Merah who were taken to hospital after a
fire broke out in a fourth-floor
unit at about 4pm on Aug 13.
The blaze took the lives of a 34-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman, who were seen yelling for help through their flat window.
They were later found unconscious in the unit’s kitchen by firefighters and subsequently died in hospital.
With this incident, the number of fire-related deaths so far in 2025 rose to eight, up from five in 2024 and three in 2023, according to Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) statistics.
The blaze is
believed to have been caused by a personal mobility device (PMD) battery pack
, said SCDF in a Facebook post on Aug 14.
SCDF said there have already been 20 such fires in the first half of 2025, up from 10 in the same period in 2024.
Speaking to ST while having lunch with her husband, Mr Mahmood Kadir, 70, at a coffee shop near her home, Madam Yati said she was thankful that she did not suffer any serious injuries.
She spent 24 hours in an observation ward at the Singapore General Hospital for smoke inhalation, and was discharged at about 11am on Aug 14.
Mr Mahmood, who works as a security guard, said he was on duty when the fire occurred.
He went up to his flat in the morning, and was dismayed to find that his medication was destroyed by the soot.
He said: “I also went to check on the water supply, and when I saw that it was still working, I was very relieved. I’m just glad that it happened at 4pm and not at midnight, when everyone was asleep.”
As their home was damaged by the fire, the couple will temporarily be relocated to a flat in Telok Blangah.
When ST visited the fourth floor of the block on Aug 14, police officers, SCDF personnel and cleaners from Tanjong Pagar Town Council had begun restoration works.
A spokesperson for the town council said it is working closely with cleaning, building and electrical contractors to restore the affected areas as quickly as possible.
“In the meantime, we’ve stepped in to lend extra support by providing additional manpower and help with the removal of bulky items. This is to make post-crisis recovery smoother and to give affected residents the help they need during this period.
“Our residents’ safety and well-being remain our top priority, and we will continue to keep a close eye on the progress until everything is back to normal.”
Tanjong Pagar Town Council is working closely with cleaning, building and electrical contractors to restore the affected areas as quickly as possible.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
Another resident who had to be relocated is Ms Zelah, with whom ST had spoken on the night of the fire. She said she had seen someone delivering a PMD charger a few days before the incident to the couple who died.
Ms Zelah, 36, who also lives on the fourth floor, was with her husband at a nearby coffee shop when ST visited.
The couple, who have three children aged 15, six and one, had their belongings packed in a suitcase and were having lunch before moving to a nearby two-room unit.
Ms Zelah said her family spent the night at a community minimart at their block, and were allowed to return home to collect their belongings only in the morning.
“My gate is black, and the (soot) got on a lot of my things,” she said.
Asked how she was feeling, Ms Zelah said she was traumatised from seeing the victims of the fire, which left her sleepless.
“I was helping Madam Yati when I heard SCDF personnel yell, ‘Victim!’ I turned around and the (woman) was just behind me (on a stretcher), her clothes and body burnt,” she said.
ST was at the funeral in Yishun Avenue 6 for the man who died in the blaze at about 3pm.
The body of the man who died from the blaze being transferred into a van to be transported to the Muslim cemetery for burial.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
ST understands that the man, known to his friends as Bear, lived in Yishun with his family, but had moved out to the rental flat in Bukit Merah with his girlfriend temporarily.
Several of his friends were waiting at the void deck for his body to be brought down after funeral rites were completed at his old home.
His family and friends declined to be interviewed.
His body was brought down at about 4.30pm and transported to the Muslim cemetery for burial.
