Elderly couple taken to hospital after fire breaks out in 48th-storey flat at Pinnacle@Duxton

An elderly couple was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation after a 48th-floor flat in Block 1D of the Pinnacle@Duxton caught fire at about 4.15am on Monday (May 21). 

According to a resident of the estate located along 1 Cantonment Road, visibility in the corridors was low due to the smoke, and the fire alarm had not gone off. 

Around 50 residents were evacuated.  

A resident on the 48th floor, Madam Yu, 30, told Lianhe Wanbao that an elderly couple in their 60s lived in the apartment that caught fire. 

At about 4am, the elderly man had knocked on Madam Yu’s door and told her that a fire had broken out in his home.

He asked Madam Yu to call the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). 

Madam Yu called the SCDF for help and went out to investigate the incident.

She said by then, stifling smoke had filled the corridors, and she could not even see her fingers. 

Fortunately, the SCDF reached the scene within five minutes and officers instructed the residents to crawl on the floor towards the staircase, which they used to exit the building. 

Madam Yu said:

“The corridor was very hot and the smoke was very thick. 

“We had to depend on the SCDF officers to show us the way using torchlights. 

“My husband and I crawled to the staircase together.”

When the couple reached the ground floor, they found that about 50 other residents had been evacuated as well.

Madam Yu revealed that although the building was equipped with a fire alarm, she has never heard it ring once.

Several other residents including Ms Cen Pei Shan, 40, also echoed her sentiments.

An SCDF spokesman said that they were alerted to the fire at 4.15am.

The fire involved the contents of a bedroom and was extinguished using two water jets. 

A couple in their 60s were conscious when conveyed to Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

The two are believed to be the owners of the affected unit.