Increase in fires due to dry spell: SCDF

Amanda Lee and Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 20 Aug 14;

SINGAPORE: More fire calls were made in the first half of this year despite a drop in fires at residential premises, according to the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) mid-year report released on Wednesday (Aug 20).

The SCDF said it responded to 2,532 fires between January and June this year – an increase of 407 cases, or 19.2 per cent, from 2,125 fires during the same period last year. A total of 42 incidents resulted in casualties, with 21 smoke inhalation cases and 35 fire injuries. There were two fatalities from a fire that broke out at the Marina Bay Suites on Jan 13.

The increase was largely due to a rise in vegetation fires as a result of a dry spell from January to March, the SCDF said. There was a “significant” rise in the number of vegetation fires during the first six months of the year to 529 cases, compared with the 104 cases in the first half of 2013.


VEHICULAR FIRES UP

Another concern was the increase of vehicular fires which went up from 95 in the first six months of last year, to 114 cases in the same period this year - a 20 per cent jump.

SCDF says most of the fires occurred while the vehicles were on the road, due to electrical faults or overheating of the engine compartment.

"Most vehicle fires start small but can develop rapidly due to the presence of flammables such as petrol or diesel in vehicles," said an SCDF spokesperson. "To prevent vehicle fires, we urge vehicle owners to conduct regular servicing on their vehicles and, as much as possible, equip their vehicles with fire extinguishers."

RESIDENTIAL FIRES DOWN

However, the number of fires in residential premises fell to 1,493 cases, down 3.1 per cent compared with the 1,541 fires in the same period last year. Fires in rubbish chutes and bins formed the bulk of these fires, at 54.9 per cent or 819 cases. This was an increase of 20.4 per cent from last year.

The SCDF said it observed a spike in the number of rubbish fires during the festive season. A total of 389 cases, or 47.5 per cent, of the rubbish fires occurred in January and February, due to the “indiscriminate disposal of lighted materials such as sparklers, charcoal and incense materials”, it said.

Fires involving discarded items fell 55.5 per cent, while fires involving unattended cooking fires fell 24 per cent and those involving household contents fell by 17 per cent. However, electrical fires for the first six months of 2014 rose by 16.8 per cent, mainly caused by the poor condition or maintenance of electrical wirings and cables, loose or improper connections, or electrical appliances that short-circuited, the SCDF said.

The number of enforcement checks for fire safety standards in the first half of 2014 also increased compared to the same period in 2013. SCDF says they issued 530 more notices to building owners and management for fire hazard violations between January and June in 2014 - an increase from 1,093 in the previous year.

AMBULANCE CALLS UP

Between January and June, the SCDF’s Emergency Medical Services responded to more ambulance calls. A total of 76,063 ambulance calls were made during the period, a marginal increase of 39 calls (or 0.1 per cent), as compared to last year with 76,024 ambulance calls.

Emergency calls made up 96 per cent of the calls; 1.9 per cent were non-emergency calls and 2.1 per cent were false alarms.

The number of false alarms remains a drain to ambulance resources, and can deprive those who are in genuine need of emergency medical assistance, said the SCDF.

The number of emergency calls dipped slightly by 0.2 per cent from 73,146 to 73,023. The SCDF attributed this to the drop of 3.6 per cent in the number of road traffic accident related injuries that it responded to, from 5,476 cases to 5,280 cases.

Of the 73,023 emergency calls, 74.6 per cent were medical cases, 7.2 per cent were road traffic accident related cases and 18.2 per cent were related to other trauma cases such as industrial accidents, falls and assaults.

NEW EMERGENCY SMS FEATURE

The SCDF also officially announced an Emergency Short Messaging Service (SMS) feature specially catered to people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or those with a speech impairment (DHS). The SMS feature was initially piloted in July. Members of the DHS community can use their mobile phone to send an SMS to 70995 to inform the SCDF of emergencies, such as a fire or a medical emergency that requires a fire engine or an SCDF emergency ambulance.

To use the service, a member of the DHS community must register with one of three organisations: The Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf), TOUCH Community Services (Silent Club) or SG Enable.

-TODAY/CNA/cy/ek

2,500 fires broke out in first half of year
Lester Hio The Straits Times AsiaOne 23 Aug 14;

A surge in the number of vegetation fires during an "unusual dry spell" between January and March has led to a rise in the total number of fires in the first half of this year.

From January to June, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) had to deal with around 2,500 fires, compared to around 2,100 in the same period last year.

This was due to the 529 vegetation fires - five times the number in the first six months of last year, when there were 104 cases.

The last time there were more of such fires over a six-month period was in 2005, where there were 697 cases.

The statistics also showed that vehicle fires have climbed by a fifth, from 95 in the first half of last year to 114 cases.

SCDF could not pinpoint the reason for the increase, but said that many of the fires were caused by electrical faults or overheating in the engine compartment.

Mr Hanafi Othman, who owns East West Auto Service, said that such fires may also be caused by wear and tear of the fuel line.

"It may cause fuel leakage. If the fuel touches anything hot, like the exhaust, the fuel will catch fire and spread across the car," he said.

Also on the rise were indus-trial fires, which went up by nearly 17 per cent to 83 cases. One-fifth of the incidents involved warehouses.

While the number of residential fires fell by just 3 per cent, SCDF noticed a "big drop" in those caused by discarded items - from 319 cases to 142.

Rubbish fires caused by improper disposal of lighted materials continued to form the bulk of residential fires at 55 per cent.

Fires on commercial premises dropped as well, by 7.3 per cent. Despite the fall, fires in eating establishments, such as coffee shops, remain an "area of concern", said SCDF director of operations Anwar Abdullah, as they can engulf the area quickly.

There were 34 such cases in the six months.

More than half of the fires that happened this year so far were caused by a "dropped light", which includes lighted cigarette butts that were not properly extinguished, embers from charcoal, and lighted incense sticks. They accounted for 1,307 cases in the six months.

And while the number of people injured by fire shrank - there was a 45 per cent drop in smoke inhalation cases to 21 this year, and a 19 per cent dip in burn injuries to 35 - there were more deaths reported.

Security guards Sim Lai Huat, 55, and Sooria Kala Kanaseon, 33, died in a fire at the Marina Bay Suites condominium on Jan 13 this year.

In the first half of last year, no one died from a fire, but four people died in the later half.

Meanwhile, to make sure they can do more than just treat heart attack cases, fire bikers will undergo an Emergency Medical Technician course, the SCDF announced yesterday.

It will teach them how to provide help to people with other ailments - such as serious injury and loss of consciousness.

Said SCDF's chief medical officer, Colonel Dr Ng Yih Yng: "The fire bikers get to cases faster as they are more mobile. This will lead to improved response time and the care of patients."

Car fires on the rise
Colin Tham The New Paper AsiaOne 23 Aug 14;

If you have not been taking your car to a workshop regularly for checks and maintenance, you may be playing with fire, literally.

The number of vehicles that caught fire has gone up by 20 per cent, from 95 in the first six months of last year to 114 cases in the first half of this year.

The numbers were released by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) yesterday.

More than half of this year's cases involved cars.

Said Assistant Commissioner Anwar Abdullah, the SCDF operations department director: "It is important to have a proper, timely and regular maintenance check on the vehicle at an authorised workshop."

He also warned that drivers should not have any illegal modifications installed on their cars as these could cause fires.

Mr Joey Lim, managing director of Harmony Motor, a vehicle servicing workshop, agreed that regular checks can prevent such mishaps.

"Vehicles get older and would naturally suffer from wear and tear. As Singaporeans are not technically inclined, they go to a workshop only when they notice a problem."

He said that drivers should follow their car manufacturers' maintenance guidelines.

CALLS BY THE ELDERLY

Seeing a more gradual rise over the years is the number of calls to the SCDF by the elderly.

Colonel (Dr) Ng Yih Yng, the chief medical officer of the SCDF medical department, said this could be due to our ageing population.

"The elderly account for about 10 per cent of Singapore's population and calls made by them to the SCDF have been increasing over the last four to five years," he said.

Last year, 36.2 per cent of calls to the SCDF were from the elderly.

Mr David Kan, the founder and programme director of Family Life First, a voluntary welfare organisation, suggested that the increase may be due to emotional stress when someone reaches a certain age.

"The elderly may feel a lack of adequate human interaction and connection in old age and they may be inclined to pick up the phone and look for a listening ear to cope with it," he said.

The number of false alarms this year also rose, by 9 per cent.

Said Col (Dr) Ng: "False alarms may occur when people panic when they see someone unwell and immediately call for an ambulance.

"They may later find out that the people whom they had called in for may actually be okay."

But he warned against making prank calls because these do not only drain the SCDF's ambulance resources, they can also deprive those who may be in genuine need of emergency assistance.

"Prank calling could potentially take away an ambulance from someone who actually needs help," he said.