80-year-old hawker 'stunned' when fire breaks out at Hong Lim Market stall; no injuries reported
The elderly man was "stunned and shocked" and had to be pulled away from the fire, said a fellow hawker who helped him.
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SINGAPORE: It was supposed to be another bustling lunch hour for hawkers at Hong Lim Food Centre and Market on the first business day of the year.
Instead, the afternoon went up in smoke for many when a fire broke out at 80-year-old hawker Teo Koon Guan's stall on Friday (Jan 2).
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted at about 12.40pm to a fire at 531A Upper Cross Street involving the kitchen exhaust ducting on the second floor.
Firefighters put out the blaze with three water jets and evacuated four people from the block as a precautionary measure.
There were no reported injuries, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Mr Teo appeared to still be in shock when he and other hawkers were allowed back to their stalls to clean up and assess the damage at about 3.15pm.
He has been selling tze char dishes at the stall, Ho Kee Seafood at unit 02-21, for 23 years.
Mr Teo told reporters that he was outside his stall when another hawker alerted him to the fire that had broken out at his stove.
Speaking in Mandarin, he said that the flame was not on at the time, but that there was a hot wok with oil on the stove.
Mr Eddy Wan, 46, who runs western stall Eddy's opposite Mr Teo's shop, helped to pull the elderly man away from the blaze.
Mr Wan said he was cooking when he looked up and saw the fire in Mr Teo's stall.
He tried to put out the blaze with a tablecloth that he had wet with water, but could not as the fire was too big.
He said Mr Teo was "stunned and shocked" and lingering in the stall, so he pulled the elderly man away to safety.
HAWKERS DEAL WITH DAMAGE
Hawker association vice-chairman Heng Check Kwang, 66, said that five stalls in the affected row must remain closed for now so that their electrical circuits can be inspected.
This includes Mr Teo's stall, which is at the edge of the row, and the four neighbouring stalls.
The inspection may take more than a week, with the affected stalls likely to reopen between Jan 10 and Jan 12, according to Mr Heng.
Mr Heng also said that the affected stalls would be filing fire insurance claims.
When asked about the damage to his stall, a resigned Mr Teo said "worrying is no use". He said he did not suffer any burns.
Mr Teo's daughter Ms Kelly Teo, 23, said he usually mans the stall by himself at lunchtime before her mother takes over in the late afternoon for the dinner shift.
After this incident, Ms Teo said they were worried and no longer felt safe letting him continue to run the stall by himself given his advanced age.
The damage was not contained to Mr Teo's stall and its neighbouring units.
Fire damage could be seen at the exhaust system one aisle away from Mr Teo's row, and stalls there also suffered water damage after the sprinkler system was activated.
Hawkers Sax Peter Choa, 60, and Evelyn Tan, 58, sell prata and curry at Midas Every Touch is Gold, one aisle away from where the fire started.
Ms Tan said that they initially continued to cook after seeing white smoke, as customers did not appear alarmed and were still eating.
When the smoke grew thicker, Ms Tan said she walked out of the stall to see what had happened and saw fire above. They then evacuated.
Surveying the damage, a frustrated Mr Choa said that their stall's signboard was waterlogged and no longer worked. Other equipment like portable lights were also not working.
Ingredients they had prepared for the lunchtime rush were soaked with water and had to be thrown away.
While his stall, like others not in Mr Teo's row, was cleared to open for business, Mr Choa questioned when they would actually be able to resume business given the damage.
He added that it was fortunate no one was injured in the fire.
Regulars who frequent stalls at the affected block of Hong Lim Food Centre said the market is a busy lunchtime destination.
Freelancer Roxanne Yeo, 32, usually patronises a noodle shop that was among those shuttered by the fire on Friday.
She said she had spoken to the noodle stall owner, and that the woman seemed shocked by what had happened.
Retail worker Tan Yan Hui, 24, said she was "a little worried" after seeing a video of the fire.
She still headed to Hong Lim Food Centre for lunch as she expected only a small section of shops to be closed, but the cordon was wider than she had anticipated.
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