SINGAPORE – A fire broke out at a crude oil refinery on Jurong Island on Tuesday (June 13).
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the fire occurred within a crude distillation unit at the Singapore Refining Company's (SRC) premises on 1 Merlimau Road.
Firefighters from SCDF and the company's in-house emergency response team took over an hour to put out the flames. No injuries were reported.
SCDF said they were alerted to the incident at 9.50am. The SRC’s response team was also immediately activated, and deployed water monitors and several large capacity fire extinguishers to fight the fire.
Several videos posted by Facebook users showed black plumes of smoke rising up beside refinery chimneys.
The SCDF said that the fire at the refinery was extinguished at around 11.10am.
The SRC has yet to comment on the cause of the incident.
Fire breaks out at Jurong Island, no injuries reported
Channel NewsAsia 13 Jun 17;
In a Facebook post, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said it received reports of a blaze at 1, Merlimau Road, where oil refinery Singapore Refining Company is located at about 9.50am. There were no reported injuries.
In a later update, SCDF said the fire occurred within a crude distillation unit. As of 11.10am, the fire had been extinguished by SCDF and the in-house emergency team, using ground monitors and several handheld jets. SCDF is carrying out foaming operations, it added.
SCDF added that company's emergency response team was activated when its fire alarm sounded. It also deployed water monitors and several large capacity fire extinguishers to mitigate the fire.
An eyewitness who declined to be named said he saw "thick black smoke" from Jurong Port at about 9.50am, but did not see flames. "The smoke subsided after awhile. Minutes later, it started again," he said.
Photos and videos of the incident have been posted on social media, which showed plumes of black smoke rising up next to refinery chimneys.