SINGAPORE — A married couple and their teenage daughter lived in the five-room flat in Hougang that was engulfed in flames on Jan 9.

The fire broke out at about 12.40pm in the third-floor unit of Block 971 Hougang Street 91.

The occupants of the flat were Lee Choon Geak, 62; his wife, Seow Siew Choo, 56; and their teenage daughter.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) responded and arrived at the scene in eight minutes from the time they were alerted.

Firefighters had to force their way into the unit, but faced challenges because of the excessive amount of items and heavily smoke-logged condition inside.

The Straits Times understands that only Lee's body has been identified so far, as the bodies of the other victims suffered significant burns.

According to records, Lee married Seow in 1992 and the family moved into the flat in 2019.

Neighbours said the flat was cluttered, and the family owned several pets, including a cat, a bird and rabbits, causing a stench along the corridor.

They said the family would often bring home a mix of items and leave them outside the unit.

A neighbour on the same floor who wanted to be known only as Priya, 42, a housewife, said the family would often bring home boxes of junk and flowerpots, cluttering the inside of the unit and the corridor.

She said: "It was very messy and smelly. I could smell it even when the door was closed."

She added that the mess had at one point occupied half of the corridor on the third floor, blocking the way to the rubbish chute.

Another neighbour on the same floor, who did not want to be identified, said the couple often brought home carton boxes and flowerpots, and kept an assortment of pets.

The woman said that because of the fire, she was not allowed back to her unit at 8pm on Jan 9. She spent the night at her daughter's place before returning home at around 8am on Jan 10.

Residents living on the other levels said they were evacuated at around 12.50pm and were gradually allowed to return to their units from 4pm to 6pm.

However, as at 5pm on Jan 10, those living next to the affected unit had yet to return home.

A couple in their 60s attempted to return to their unit at around 4pm, but found the area still cordoned off.

They said the residents' committee had arranged a nearby room for them to spend the night at, but they had barely slept and were still wearing the same clothes from the day before.

Workers from the town council began clearing items from the gutted unit from 3pm on Jan 10.

By 5pm, at least seven large garbage disposal bins' worth of items had been removed from the flat, with the clean-up expected to continue through the weekend.

In an initial Facebook post by the SCDF at about 2.15pm on Jan 9, it said there were no reported injuries in the fire.

The fire was extinguished at around 3.15pm and firefighters continued with damping down operations for the next four hours.

SCDF said thermal-imaging cameras were used to check for heat sources among the debris.

It was only at around 4.30pm that SCDF issued an update saying two victims had been found inside a bedroom in the unit and pronounced dead at the scene.

At around 7.45pm, it said firefighters had rescued a cat, a bird and eight rabbits. But, at about 9.30pm, it issued yet another update, saying it had found a third body in the bedroom.

SCDF firefighters were still at the scene at 4pm on Jan 10, and had teams watching the unit overnight.

It said that owing to the excessive amount of items in the unit, there was a possibility that a fire could rekindle from deep-seated embers, which may not be readily visible even after an initial fire is extinguished.

Engineers from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) were also present at the block and entered several units to conduct checks.

A BCA spokesman said a preliminary assessment by its engineers found that the fire did not affect the structural integrity of the unit or the units directly above and below it.

But the fire had damaged the plaster in two of the unit's bedrooms.

The spokesman said it will work with the Housing Board on the appointment of a professional engineer who will carry out a detailed structural assessment and recommend permanent works.

There were 1,954 cases of fires in Singapore in 2023, an 8.6 per cent increase from 1,799 cases in 2022.

The Hougang fire is the second time in more than two years that a blaze has killed three people.

On May 13, 2022, three people, including a three-year-old, died in a fire that broke out in the living room of a Bedok North flat.

ALSO READ: 3 dead after fire breaks out in Hougang flat, 30 evacuated

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.