Little India shophouse hit by afternoon blaze, man reunited with dog
A fire broke out in Little India yesterday afternoon, causing thick smoke to engulf the area.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the fire involved the contents of a two-storey shophouse at 14 Dickson Road and lasted for about two hours.
There were no injuries.
Engineer Alagappan Vela, 33, who was in the area at the time of the fire, told The New Paper: "As I was walking, I suddenly noticed the smoke from a distance. It was about 30m high.
"I could also see black pieces of paper in the air."
The Straits Times reported that Mr Lim Hock Seng, 71, the owner of the affected shophouse, sublets the first storey to a rag-and-bone man and three others.
The second storey is used to store Mr Lim's family keepsakes, including clothes, old posters and an antique collection of Coca-Cola bottles and cans.
Mr Peter Lim, a 72-year-old retiree who lives nearby, said he was sleeping when he heard there was a fire.
He said: "When I came out, I could see a lot of black smoke and flames coming out from the shophouse."
He added that police had helped him retrieve his dog, which was still in his home.
The area near the affected building has a few hotels.
An employee of Moon 23 Hotel told The New Paper that its occupants were evacuated as a safety precaution.
An occupant, student Kanisha Shetty, 18, who was visiting from India with her family, said: "We were in our room when hotel staff knocked on our door and told us to go out because there was a fire in a building nearby. When we exited the building, we could see smoke that was pretty high."
On its Facebook page, SCDF said it responded to a fire at about 2.50pm yesterday.
SCDF said a total of 12 emergency vehicles and about 40 firefighters were deployed.
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