The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) issued a warning to all the drivers in Singapore on Tuesday, February 18. The authority posted on Facebook that drivers should keep a fire extinguisher in their cars.
It issued the advice after making its attempts to extinguish a car fire along the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) on Monday, February 17, public.
According to the SCDF, the incident happened close to the Dairy Farm Road exit on the BKE heading towards Woodlands. The event was reported to SCDF at approximately 9:20 pm.
A “minor burn injury” sent one individual to the Singapore General Hospital. The SCDF said that the vehicle involved in the fire was an electric vehicle (EV).
When firemen arrived on the site, they covered the EV with a vehicle fire blanket in an effort to isolate the fire and stop the smoke from spreading. The EV was additionally cooled by three water jets.
After that, the firemen used specialized equipment to put out the fire by injecting water straight into the burning battery through the EV’s undercarriage battery housing. To keep a fire from starting over, they kept damping down the EV.
As EVs include lithium-ion batteries, fires involving them are more likely to rekindle long after the original fire has been put out, according to SCDF.
An annual statistics report released on February 13 by the SCDF revealed that there were 220 vehicle fires in 2024, up from 215 in 2023. Only one of the vehicle fires in 2024 involved an electric vehicle, and the SCDF stated that ignition sources, such as overheating and electrical faults in the engine compartment, were the main causes of the fires.
If the fire is threatening to engulf the vehicle, it is also not advised that people fight it; instead, they should stay at least 15 meters away from the scene and call 995 for assistance.
