A fire broke out at Century Bakkwa, a bak kwa shop located at 30 Dunlop Street in the Little India area, on Sunday, Feb 15. The incident happened at about 11.40am, just two days before the Chinese New Year, affecting the preparation of festive orders.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the fire involved the contents of a kitchen exhaust duct in a ground-floor unit of the shophouse. Firefighters put out the blaze using a water jet and a hosereel. An eyewitness shared that the fire started at about noon and was extinguished within five minutes of SCDF arriving at the scene.
Two people were affected by the incident. One person was assessed for breathing difficulties and another suffered minor injuries, but both declined to be taken to the hospital. According to the shop’s owner, Ms Simbian Chua, a chef also suffered burns to his hands.
Ms Chua told CNA that employees had been grilling bak kwa over charcoal when flames ignited the exhaust system. She said, “So I came here, I told the fireman you have to remove the charcoal. Otherwise, the fire wouldn’t stop because … it’s flammable.” In an earlier social media post, she mentioned that there was 500kg of charcoal in the shop and that the fire “can’t seem to be put out”.
The fire caused delays to deliveries scheduled for Sunday. Ms Chua apologised to customers and said orders would be delayed by one to two days. She said some customers were unhappy about the delay, sharing their concerns: “They say I buy bak kwa for my boss, my boss hasn’t received the bak kwa. Later, my boss doesn’t give me a raise,” and added, “So all our deliveries right, are like late for one to two days and everybody is angry.”
According to Century Bakkwa’s social media posts, orders are already full for the Chinese New Year period. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by SCDF.
