Tuesday, August 3, 2010
SINGAPORE : About 1,000 people at AMK Hub in Ang Mo Kio had to be evacuated after a fire broke out on an escalator in the mall on Tuesday.
The escalator connecting basement one to the first level caught fire at about 12.30pm.
Firefighters managed to put out the fire in about six minutes.
However, the mall operator asked everyone in the mall to evacuate as it was afraid the thick smoke from the fire would pose a health hazard.
Business resumed about half an hour later.
The mall operator said it is working with the escalator company to investigate the cause of the incident.
It added that the escalator that caught fire was serviced about a week ago.
No one was injured.
The mall is linked to Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange. Bus services were not affected by the incident. - CNA/ms
During the break just earlier in the afternoon, a few of us from the class happened to pass by the scene at around 3.30PM, it was 3 hours later, yet we still were able to smell smoke. It was quite bad. The glass portion of the escalator was shattered. According to some news, no one was hurt, and all were ask to evacuate the area in case the smoke causes health hazards especially to those with medical breathing problems like asthma.
I think the police actually did a good job in the situation, they cordoned off the area to prevent customers and shoppers from using the escalator. However, the smoke was still unable to be cleared after 3 hours. This could mean it could have been quite bad if the fire department was not informed and aware earlier. Thankfully, we have the police head quarters nearby which indeed helped.
In Singapore, Police stations and fire departments are all almost everywhere, this helps and is really good. IN cases of emergency like the current above situation, having the police stations nearby and all, would really help as lesser people or even no one would be hurt and all would be safer. We should be thankful that we can spot these help zones almost everywhere easily.
8:52 PM
