SCDF battles oil storage tank fire on Pulau Busing, NEA monitoring air quality

[SINGAPORE] A fire involving an oil storage tank broke out on Pulau Busing, an island located off the south-western coast of Singapore, on Tuesday (March 20).

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post at 6.33pm that it had been alerted to the fire and was responding to the incident.

Photos and videos posted on Facebook show dense plumes of smoke rising from the island, which is leased to petroleum storage company Tankstore.

SCDF said in an update at 7.13pm that it has deployed resources to Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal, where they will board a craft to Pulau Busing.

"Members of the Company Emergency Response Team (CERT) are conducting firefighting operations," said SCDF. "The fire involves an oil storage tank."

Firefighting operations were still ongoing more than an hour later, with SCDF adding in a post at 8.36pm that it was deploying even more resources to tackle the fire.

More than three hours after SCDF first put up a note about the fire, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said that it was aware of the fire and was monitoring the air quality closely, especially in the south-western region of Singapore.

"The prevailing winds are currently blowing from the north-east and the air quality has remained in the Good to Moderate range, with no spikes in the PM2.5, sulphur dioxide and other air pollutant levels," said NEA in a statement. "We will provide updates should there be changes in the air quality situation."

ST has contacted SCDF and Tankstore for more information.

THE STRAITS TIMES