Burning smell in north-east Singapore likely related to fire at landfill in Pasir Gudang: NEA

Timothy Goh Straits Times 17 Feb 19;

SINGAPORE - A burning smell in north-east Singapore is likely related to a fire at the Tanjong Langsat landfill in Pasir Gudang, Johor, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA).

The agency told The Straits Times on Sunday (Feb 17) that it had received nine feedback cases on the smell between Friday evening and 11pm on Saturday. Eight of them were received after 6pm on Saturday.

Several netizens living in Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Sengkang, and Hougang also reported a "smoky" or "smoggy" smell on social media.

Reddit user blahhh87 said he "thought of doing some late night cycling but decided not to".

"It smells really bad," wrote Facebook user Benny Ong.

The feedback cases come just over a week after reports of a burning smell over several parts of eastern Singapore, including Tampines, Bedok and Pasir Ris, on Feb 8.

The source of that smell was due to a fire at a landfill in Bandar Tenggara, in south-eastern Johor, NEA said at the time.

On Sunday, NEA said the Department of Environment Johor has updated the agency that while the fire at Bandar Tenggara landfill had been put out, there is another fire at the Tanjong Langsat landfill in Pasir Gudang.

"It is likely that the burning smell detected in the north-east of Singapore is related to this fire," said an NEA spokesman, who confirmed that the agency had not been able to trace the smell to any local causes so far.

The spokesman added that the prevailing winds, which have been blowing from the north-east, are expected to persist for the next few days.

At 11pm on Saturday, the PSI at the North, East and Central regions ranged from 42 to 48, in the "good" range.

The one-hour PM2.5 readings in those regions ranged between 6 and 12 micrograms per cu m (mcg/m3), which is in the "normal" range. PM2.5 is the dominant pollutant during haze episodes.

NEA also said that the levels of ambient volatile organic compounds continue to remain within safety limits.

In contrast, during the last episode on Feb 8, the one-hour PM2.5 readings rose at one point to the "elevated" range of 46 to 62 mcg/m3. The PSI also hit 65 at a separate time that day.

NEA said it will continue to monitor the air quality and provide updates should there be any change in the situation.


Burning smell detected in northeast Singapore ‘likely’ related to Johor landfill fire: NEA
Channel NewsAsia 17 Feb 19;

SINGAPORE: A burning smell detected in the northeast of Singapore over the last two days was likely related to a fire at a landfill in Johor, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Saturday. This is the second such incident in two weeks.

In response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, NEA said it received nine feedback cases between the evening of Feb 15 and 11pm on Feb 16 regarding the burning smell.

“Eight of the nine feedback cases were received after 6pm on Feb 16. During the last smell episode on Feb 8, NEA had received 31 feedback cases,” the agency said.

On Feb 8 and 9, a fire at the Bandar Tenggara landfill in Johor also resulted in a smoky smell in the eastern parts of Singapore.

NEA added that the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) confirmed that there was no major fire incident in the northeast of Singapore.

It said that the Department of Environment (DOE) Johor provided an update that while the fire at Bandar Tenggara in southeast Johor had been put out, there was another fire at the Tanjong Langsat landfill in Pasir Gudang.

“The prevailing winds have been blowing from the northeast, and this is expected to persist for the next few days. It is likely that the burning smell detected in the northeast of Singapore is related to this fire,” NEA said.

NEA said that as of 11pm on Saturday, the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) at the North, East and Central regions ranged from 42 to 48, in the “Good” range, while the 1-hr PM2.5 readings in those regions ranged between 6 to 12µg/m3 (Band I), which is in the “Normal” range.

“The ambient volatile organic compounds levels also continue to remain within safety limits. NEA will continue to monitor the air quality, and will provide updates should there be any change in the situation,” it added.

On Saturday, a Channel NewsAsia reader reported experiencing a burning smell in Punggol.

The reader, who only wanted to be identified as Mr Foo, said he also saw smoke coming from a source that lay northeast of Punggol.