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Charging PMD battery suspected to be origin of fire at Sengkang flat

aseanpr
2 minutes

SINGAPORE - A fire broke out at Block 185C Rivervale Crescent in Sengkang on Tuesday night (Sept 14). The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said on Facebook that it was alerted to the fire at about 9pm. SCDF firefighters arrived as the fire was raging in a unit on the third storey. They were equipped with breathing apparatus sets when they entered the smoke-filled unit. The fire involved the contents of a bedroom and was extinguished by SCDF with one water jet. The rest of the unit suffered heat and soot damage. Photos in SCDF's post show a bed with what appears to be the burnt remains of a personal mobility device (PMD) and a charred living room. Three occupants had left the affected unit before SCDF arrived. Two of them were taken to Singapore General Hospital, and one to KK Women's and Children's Hospital, to be checked for smoke inhalation and/or burn injuries, SCDF said. The police evacuated 10 residents from neighbouring units as a precautionary measure. No other injuries were reported. SCDF's preliminary investigation into the cause of the fire indicated that it was of electrical origin from a PMD battery that was being charged in the bedroom. PMD-related fires went down ...

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Low risk of severe haze from Indonesia this year: Singapore Institute of International Affairs

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - There is a low risk of severe haze originating from forest fires in Indonesia this year, a local think-tank has assessed. The report by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) released on Thursday (June 24) said this was due to a confluence of factors. These include improved land management policies by the Indonesian government, projected weather conditions and the growing recognition among the authorities there that the carbon-rich peatlands and forests in the country could be a source of carbon credits. This means there is now a business case for the conservation of these natural habitats - they no longer need to be drained and felled for oil palm or pulp and paper plantations in order for the land to reap economic gains. Peatlands are carbon-rich habitats that are naturally waterlogged. But for the land to be used to grow cash crops, they need to be drained - increasing the risk of fire and releasing lots of carbon into the atmosphere. On a scale of green, amber and red - with green being low risk and red being high - the 2021 haze outlook is green for the first time, said SIIA chairman Simon Tay in the report's foreword. In 2019 and last year, the ha...