Raging fire at Ubi warehouse
A fire broke out in a four-storey warehouse in Ubi at around 5.20pm on Monday (Sept 14).
The boss of one of the warehouse units on the first storey said he had been alone in the office when he heard loud popping sounds.
He rushed out and saw that a corner of the warehouse was ablaze.
The man, who looked to be in his 60s and did not want to be named, said he then fled the building.
He had millions of dollars worth of goods inside, "mainly porcelain, with some rubber and plastics", he said.
The fire is believed to have started from his unit.
When The New Paper arrived at the scene at around 6.20pm, there was a strong pungent smell in the air. Billows of black smoke continued to cloud the warehouse.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted to the fire at 5.34pm. It arrived at the scene within eight minutes and was met with a "raging" fire.
Firefighters had to wear breathing apparatus equipment to fight the fire.
A SCDF spokesman said: "The smoke also enshrouded the entire block resulting in poor visibility and this required the firefighters to exercise extreme caution in carrying out the firefighting as well as search and rescue operations.
A total of 10 people were rescued from the block, including a man who was trapped in a cargo lift.
Out of the 10 rescued, only one woman had to be sent to hospital for smoke inhalation.
A firefighter also had to be sent to hospital for heat exhaustion.
At about 9pm, SCDF said the fire was under control.
Read the full report in our print edition on Sept 15.
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