Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Installing a Central Fire Alarm System for All HDB Blocks

Question:

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for National Development [Home Affairs] (a) whether the Ministry will consider installing a central fire alarm system for all HDB blocks; and (b) if not, why not.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1.   Central fire alarm systems, as opposed to stand-alone smoke detector systems, provide early warning to all occupants within a building in the event of a fire, in order to facilitate mass evacuation.

2.   HDB blocks are designed such that each HDB flat is a fire compartment. Any fire outbreak within a HDB flat is usually contained within that flat, and there has usually been no need to evacuate all residents from the block. Residents from adjacent flats are sometimes evacuated.

3.   Since June 2018, we have also required all new residential units and existing residential units undergoing works which impact fire safety, to install Home Fire Alarm 3 Devices. These are stand-alone smoke detectors that provide early warning of a fire to the occupants of the affected unit.