3 Apr 2015 - Fire breaks out at Jem shopping mall, no injuries reported

SINGAPORE: A fire broke out near the H&M boutique at JEM shopping mall at Jurong East on Friday night (Apr 3).

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the blaze on the first level had started from electrical wires in the exterior wall of the building. No one was hurt in the incident.

Mr JM Koh, who sent in photos and videos of the fire, said there was no evacuation from the mall, although a fire alarm had gone off at a McDonald’s fast food outlet opposite H&M. When he chanced upon the scene at about 10.10pm, a crowd of “about 50 people" had gathered.

Mr Koh said staff were seen trying to put out the fire with a hose, and they asked onlookers to move aside. The blaze was extinguished with a water jet, said SCDF.

“The fire was not that big, but not that small,” he said. “It was between the exterior infrastructure and the building itself.”

Mr Koh said despite the fire, shoppers were still seen milling inside the H&M boutique.

This is the latest in a string of fires at JEM. In August 2013, a deep fryer caused a small blaze at the NTUC FairPrice Xtra supermarket, and a car caught fire in the basement car park days later. In September that year, false ceiling panels on the first floor collapsed due to a burst water pipe, injuring three people, and causing the mall to be temporarily shut for checks.