At 1006 hrs, SCDF was alerted to a fire at the sixth floor of a building located at 63 Robinson Road. Upon receiving the notification, SCDF resources which included 2 Fire Engines, 4 Red Rhinos, 1 Fire Bike, 1 Ambulance and 3 Support Applianceswere dispatched.

Upon arrival within 6 minutes, an office unit on the sixth floor of the building was on fire. SCDF personnel immediately donned breathing apparatus equipment and proceeded to the affected unit to conduct internal fire-fighting operations. The unit measuring about 30 by 20 metres was on fire. The occupants of the building self evacuated prior to SCDF"s arrival.

The fire was brought under control within 30 minutes using 2 water jets and the fire was confined within the affected unit. Mitigating fires in a high-rise building requires the fire-fighting operations to be conducted internally. About 20 fire fighters were in the affected unit fighting the fire; they also conducted search operations. A body was found in the affected unit and pronounced dead by SCDF paramedics at scene.

An SCDF aerial appliance which was being deployed as a supportive element in the fire-fighting operation, encountered technical difficulty in extending the boom. The inability to deploy the aerial appliance did not affect the fire fighting operations. An aerial appliance is normally used in such situations for aerial reconnaissance and to provide any fire fighting support, if required. In this instance, it was not required because our fire fighters were able to access the fire and mitigate internally. Nonetheless, an additional aerial appliance was immediately activated to the scene when the difficulty was encountered.

The cause of fire and the death is under investigation.