Older buildings without the necessary fire safety features remain at risk. The UK Grenfell fire disaster, while far from home, remains a stark reminder to developed countries of what could happen if building developers use inappropriate construction material and scrimp on fire safety features. An entire building was demolished, scores of people died, survivors left homeless and in despair. The incident prompted questions and concerns from myself and my colleagues about whether this could happen in Singapore.
– Dr Lee Bee Wah, 2019
Four fires in HDBs across Singapore in the last week have reignited conversations on mandating fire alarms in flats.
The four fires took place at a Marsiling HDB flat on 15 May, at a Serangoon Central Drive coffee shop on 14 May, at a Bedok North HDB flat on 13 May, in which three people lost their lives, and at a Jalan Bukit Merah flat on 17 May.
4 Fires in 1 Week
In an interview with the Straits Times, a resident of the Marsiling road HDB flat explained how she learned of the fire. She told reporters that she woke up because of a strong smell of smoke around midnight. She then “looked up from the garbage disposal area and could see the flames from the flat.” She added:
It was a bit of a shock for us to see policemen knocking on all the doors telling us to evacuate.
This resident did not wake up due to a fire alarm. She woke up due to a smell and only became aware of the fire when she investigated it further. She was then shocked to suddenly find her whole block being evacuated by the police.
Lack of fire alarms in flats
On Reddit, the user madevaney77 responded to an article about the Bedok North fire by saying:
Similarly Catherine Ong Wei Min wrote into the Straits Times expressing dismay over the lives lost in the Bedok fire. She said that her family had also evacuated from a fire in 2019. Thankfully then, no lives were lost. She continued:
The installation of fire alarms and smoke detectors in every HDB flat and private apartment should be made mandatory so that occupants will be alerted to take corrective measures or escape to avoid devastating losses.
These are easily retrofitted in older flats, and should be part of safety installations in new flats.
Recent Developments
In 2017, the government announced that for all new residential homes, including HDBS, fire alarms would be made mandatory. Moreover, any existing homes that underwent renovations were also required to install the approved smoke detectors, called Home Fire Alarm Devices (HFAD).
Home Fire Alarm Devices became mandatory for new flats in June 2018
Despite these measures, some have pressed the government to do more. In 2019, during the second reading of the Fire Safety (Amendment) Bill, Nominated Member of Parliament Associate Professor Walter Theseira said:
I propose that with the powers under this Bill, the Government mandate that all HDB flats install home fire alarm devices, with the initial installation costs in existing HDB flats to be paid for by the Government.
As of 2018, we have nearly one million owner-occupied HDB flats in Singapore. Nearly all were built before Home Fire Alarm Devices became mandatory for new flats in June 2018. Like many Singaporeans, I live in an older HDB flat. Home Fire Alarm Devices were not common in Singapore when my flat was built. They were not even a consideration for my parents or the older generation when they moved in. Perhaps we can assume that the vast majority of HDB flats have no Home Fire Alarm Devices.
The Associate Professor cited a 2016 paper published in the Fire Safety Journal titled, “The association between smoke alarm presence and injury and death rates: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” The study found that homes with fire alarms had half the rate of deaths from fire compared with homes that had no fire alarms.
Grenfell Tower Incident
The reading of the Fire Safety (Amendment) Bill was opened by Sun Xueling, Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs. In her speech, Sun cited the infamous 2017 case in London where “an ordinary house fire escalated rapidly to an inferno that engulfed the entire Grenfell Tower.” She noted that the fire “claimed 72 lives, destroyed 151 homes and rendered more than 200 residents homeless.”
Writing on Grenfell in an op-Ed for The Guardian, the British journalist Owen Jones has said:
When 72 people died in Grenfell Tower in 2017, the British intellectual and musician Akala declared: “People died because they were poor.”
Residents repeatedly warned that the tower, which was covered in cheap, flammable cladding, was unsafe. Those residents were not only disproportionately working class, but also Black and brown; many hailed from other countries. If they had been wealthy, white penthouse-dwellers, their pleas for help might not have been ignored until the moment their homes were ablaze. Even after the deadliest structural fire on British soil in three decades, solemn promises to rehouse survivors went unmet.
Grenfell Tower tells a story of a society not just scarred by inequality, but defined by it https://t.co/YlwZFN7ned
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) June 16, 2017
Should the Government step in?
In Singapore, there have been calls for years to mandate fire alarms in all HDB flats. In August 2019, Associate Professor Walter Theseira wrote an article for Channel News Asia arguing that the government should bear the costs of these fire alarms. Though the costs would be significant, they will go towards saving lives:
The published equipment costs range from S$50 to S$80 for a fire alarm with a 10-year battery. If we conservatively assume costs at the upper end of this range, we can budget S$80 million for equipment, and that amount again for installation costs and public education, for a total programme cost of about S$160 million.
The Government has the financial capacity to undertake this programme. It is clearly prepared to spend even larger sums than S$160 million on the welfare of Singaporeans. After all, the S$1.1 Billion Bicentennial Bonus gave lower-income Singaporeans cash payouts of up to S$300 each.
Aside from fire alarms, Singapore already has in place stringent standards on building cladding materials which are enforced by the SCDF, coupled with regular fire safety checks across the island.
Rental flats can also receive free fire alarms funded by the SCDF, HDB and the People’s Association. However, according to the SCDF website, installing fire alarms in these flats is not mandatory. Rather, residents can choose to “register for an installation” of such alarms should they so desire.
As Joan Pereira, PAP MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, said in Parliament in 2019, this “leaves the majority of residences, both HDB flats and private properties, not equipped with fire alarm systems, although owners are strongly encouraged to install them.”
In light of the spate of recent fires, we need to urgently mandate the installation of fire alarms for all residential properties.
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