A personal mobility aid caught fire on the third-floor staircase landing of a Housing and Development Board block in Yishun on Sunday morning, forcing the evacuation of more than 50 residents and knocking out electricity to two neighboring flats for several hours.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted at about 9.05am to a blaze in a common area at Block 438 Yishun Avenue 11. Officers put out the fire with a compressed air foam trolley. Preliminary findings pointed to the PMA as the ignition source, and no injuries were reported.
Power cuts and town council response
Nee Soon GRC MP Syed Harun Alhabsyi said the fire disrupted electricity supply to two units adjacent to the landing. Nee Soon Town Council coordinated repairs immediately, and power was restored at about 4pm, according to his statement to The Straits Times. Lift operations were not affected.
Syed Harun, who is also Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and National Development, thanked SCDF and grassroots volunteers in a Facebook post and said the Residents’ Committee centre was opened for residents who needed shelter or assistance. He added that further restorative work on the block would continue in the coming days.
Police action separate from the blaze
Police told media that while officers were supporting SCDF at the scene, they encountered a 57-year-old man shouting and refusing to comply with directions. He was arrested for drunkenness in public and is not believed to be connected to the PMA fire. Investigations into that arrest are continuing.
Fire-safety context for mobility devices
SCDF directed PMA users to government guidance on safe charging and storage at go.gov.sg/bedevicesafe. National statistics show total fires in Singapore rose 3 percent to 2,050 in 2025 from 1,990 in 2024. Electrical fires at residential premises accounted for 304 cases last year, including 34 involving active mobility devices such as personal mobility devices, power-assisted bicycles and PMAs.
Although overall active-mobility-device fires fell from 67 to 49 between 2024 and 2025, personal mobility device fires ticked up from 25 to 31 incidents, while PMA fires declined from 11 to six. Sunday’s Yishun case nonetheless underscores why town councils and MPs treat staircase-landing blazes as immediate evacuation events even when flames never reach individual units.
What residents should expect
Syed Harun said assistance would be rendered to affected households where required as contractors finish cleaning soot and checking wiring. For the wider estate, the incident is a reminder that charging lithium-powered aids in corridors and landings remains a recurring risk in dense HDB layouts, especially when haze and heat drive more residents to keep doors open for ventilation.