An oil storage tank, situated at Pulau Busing caught fire on Tuesday, March 20 with fire-fighters pressed into service immediately to extinguish the blaze after a six-hour long joint operation, involving several agencies.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in their Facebook post on Wednesday morning that they were alerted about the incident at about 5.50 pm, Tuesday and the fire was brought under control by the combined efforts of SCDF Emergency Responders and CERT members. As of now, there are no reports about any casualties.
SCDF said the massive operation involved a total of 128 personnel and 31 fire-fighters, including support vehicles. Police Coast Guard, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, National Environment Agency and the Republic of Singapore Navy also supported operation.
The 58-year-old, K Shanmugam, the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law visited the SCDF officials in the island, which is located off the south-western coast of Singapore.
The island, known for oil and chemical storage facilities, belongs to Tankstore. An insider from Tankstore told media that the fire was quite severe.
On Facebook, SCDF said, "Radiant heat from the affected oil storage tank poses a major challenge to the firefighters as they move forward while maintaining a safe distance. Despite the challenge, SCDF firefighters and members of Company Emergency Response Team (CERT) are still pressing on."
An unnamed 29-year-old individual said that she saw the thick plume of smoke, rising from the island at around 6 pm, Tuesday. Another 48-year-old woman, Nicky Ng told media that she saw the black smoke from her building, situated near Harbourfront.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) confirmed that this fire accident did not cause any increase in pollution level, which includes sulphur dioxide and other air pollutants. They mentioned that the officials will provide more details related to changes in the air quality.
NEA said that they are monitoring the air quality, especially in the south-western region of Singapore, where the incident happened.
