SINGAPORE, March 12 — Shoppers and store employees at Chinatown Point were evacuated from the mall this morning after a fire broke out at a luxury bag store.
One person was taken to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for smoke inhalation.
When TODAY arrived at the scene at around noon, the police had cordoned off the perimeter of the mall with barricade tape.
Crowds of onlookers were gathered and seated outside the mall’s main entrance. Six safe distancing ambassadors were also patrolling the mall’s perimeter.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer was seen inside Luxury City, the store where the fire had broken out. The shop sells and cleans luxury bags.
Burn marks were seen on the glass panel of the shop, which is located on the ground level.
In response to TODAY’s queries, SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at about 10.25am.
The fire involved a signboard in the store and was extinguished by the sprinkler system before SCDF arrived.
SCDF said preliminary investigations into the cause of the fire found that it was “of electrical origin”.
About 100 patrons and store operators were evacuated from the premises, it added, while one person was taken to SGH.
An employee at restaurant Monster Curry, who wanted to be known as only Siew Ling, said there was a strong burning smell in the air around 10.30am when the fire alarm first rang.
“There was an announcement saying that they’re investigating the situation. Around two minutes later they made another announcement saying it was a fire,” said the 17-year-old. Monster Curry is located on the second level of the mall.
Ken Son, 24, who works at Iroha Mart located in the basement, said people were panicking and running around after the evacuation message was played. He, too, saw a bit of smoke coming from upstairs.
A pop-up store tenant, who wanted to be known only as Mary, said she saw a blanket of fog as she was evacuating from the mall at around 10.30am.
“From where I was you could not smell the smoke through the mask,” said the worker, who is in her 40s. Her store is located on the first floor, but on the other side of the mall. — TODAY
