Fired up over illegal dorms

PHOTO: SCDF

There were 347 Notices of Fire Safety Offence (NFSOs) against unauthorised change of use of private residences to workers’ dormitories in the first six months of this year.

And these illegal conversions are especially susceptible to fires, said a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman

The SCDF yesterday revealed statistics for the first six months of the year and the good news was there were 2,191 fires from January to June this year, a record low in more than a decade.

The bad news was that more NFSOs were issued for the first half of this year - 1,282 compared to 1,214 over the same period last year.

NFSOs issued for serious fire safety violations carry fines of between $300 and $500. Serious or repeat offenders are taken to court.

And the main contributor to NFSO increase was the unauthorised change of use of premises, said SCDF.

Of the 861 NFSOs issued for unauthorised changes of use of premises from January to June this year, a large proportion came from illegal conversions of private residences to workers’ dorms.