Transcript of Media Doorstop by Mr Goh Pei Ming, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development, on the Government’s Efforts in Tackling Residential Fires

Reporter: With the recent spate of residential fires, members of the public are concerned. Would you be able to comment on the recent fires and what the Government plans to do?

MOS Goh: So indeed, the Government is concerned about the recent spate of residential fires, in particular, some of these cases have led to deaths. We are doing what we can to support the families who have been affected by these fires. Based on the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) preliminarily findings – two likely causes. First, is the battery packs from some of the Active Mobility Devices (AMDs), and second, likely due to electrical origins, electrical faults. So I think more can be done in this space.

But actually, the Government has, over the past few years, done quite a bit in this space, even before the recent spate of fires. Since 2018, for instance, we have required all new built flats, as well as existing HDB flats undergoing Addition & Alteration (A&A) works, to install Home Fire Alarm Devices. So this allows for the occupants to have early notice, should there be any smoke within the unit. The Town Councils, together with SCDF, have also been working very closely to remove hazardous materials from corridors, common spaces, fire hazards in particular. And third, the Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Transport, have put in place measures to require all Power Assisted Bicycles, Personal Mobility Devices, to be registered and to undergo safety checks. So I think those are some of the measures.

In addition to that, various enforcement as well as regulatory actions have also been put in place. For instance, SCDF has been installing fire extinguishers in various HDB estates. You will find, next to many of the AEDs today, there will be fire extinguishers next to it to allow members of public to access emergency resources to help respond to fires a lot more quickly. As of July this year, more than 90% of the places that require such installations already have the fire extinguishers in position.

Currently, what the Government is looking at is possibly various measures to step up fire safety protection and possibly also looking into stiffer actions against the owners, as well as the retailers of non-compliant AMDs. So these are the measures, but certainly we hope to work more closely with members of the public to make our homes a lot more fire safe, and to reduce the overall occurrence of fires.

Reporter: On the ground, we hear that a lot of homeowners, after hearing the news, they are afraid and they want to equip themselves with fire safety products. Given that these products, like fire extinguishers, are not cheap, is the Government considering any form of grants or subsidies for homeowners to equip themselves with such products?

MOS Goh: So the installation of fire extinguishers at the void decks of HDB estates is our way of making firefighting equipment more accessible to all homeowners. So I think it is useful for residents to know where is the nearest fire extinguisher next to them. Of course, if they are prepared to buy a fire extinguisher to put in their homes, I think that is strongly encouraged as well.

When Singaporeans, residents attend many of the community outreach programmes that SCDF organises together various agencies, like People’s Association, in some of these community resilience programmes, like the Responder Plus Programme that I’m attending and visiting today at Joo Chiat Community Club, we are also giving out various firefighting equipment. So this is another way that residents can equip themselves with some of these resources. At the same time, we will also urge residents, if they do wish, to install Home Fire Alarm Devices. This is also at a relatively cheap price point, but these alarms do provide early notice to all residents, so that is something that we encourage.

Reporter: In the recent Toa Payoh flat fire, one of the dry risers was not working. Would SCDF or MHA be conducting additional check throughs on dry risers?

MOS Goh: I think between SCDF as well as the Town Councils, there is an annual cadence of checks on all the dry risers. Specific to this case, I think that is something for the Town Council and SCDF to check through. As far as I know, the dry riser has been checked, and all is working at this current juncture.

Reporter: Would the authorities be stepping up checks to replace the dry risers? Because some of these dry risers are in ageing blocks.

MOS Goh: There is an inspection regime currently for all our dry risers in all housing estates, so we will stick to the existing regime.

Reporter: Do you think we will be doing more checks?

MOS Goh: I think from the annual checks, we will collect the data, and should the data suggest the need for more checks and inspections to be done, we will explore that option. But currently, the data does not suggest we need to set that up.

Reporter: In your role as a Member of Parliament for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, are you also working with other constituencies and learning on the ground and exchanging, perhaps ideas and initiatives on potential ground up efforts that could be done as well? Perhaps going on more walkabouts to educate people on the different fire safety hazards etc?

MOS Goh: Within constituency events, and over the last five years, there have been four and a half months that I have been a Member of Parliament for the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, I have attended quite a few community outreach activities that showcase how residents can work very closely with agencies to help respond to emergencies, together with the Police Force, together with SCDF. So today’s event, the Responder Plus Programme, is one such example that we are helping to bring such knowledge into the community, and we will continue to do more of that going forward.