100 people evacuated after fire breaks out at Orchard Gateway

SINGAPORE – Around 100 people were evacuated after a fire broke out at Orchard Gateway on Nov 9.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at 277 Orchard Road – the address of Orchard Gateway – at around 5.40pm.

The fire, which involved electrical equipment in an equipment room at basement two of the mall, was extinguished with a compressed air foam backpack and fire extinguishers.

About 100 people were evacuated by the police as a precaution, added SCDF.

There were no other reported injuries, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

When The Straits Times arrived at the scene at around 6pm, the shutters between Somerset MRT and Orchard Gateway were down, with smoke seen outside the mall.

There were four SCDF vehicles and six police cars outside Orchard Gateway at around 7pm, as the smell of smoke lingered in the air.

ST has contacted Orchard Gateway for more details.

Last week, a fire broke out in the locker room of bookstore Kinokuniya’s flagship outlet at Ngee Ann City shopping centre in Orchard Road.

Customers and employees were evacuated and the store was closed for several hours on Nov 2. No injuries were reported.

• Additional reporting by Eileen Ng and Ariffin Jamar

Rhea Yasmine is a journalist at The Straits Times. She covers local and international issues, with an interest in South-east Asia.