SINGAPORE — Seventy Toa Payoh residents had to be evacuated from their HDB block on Wednesday (Jan 10) morning after a fire gutted a unit on the 15th floor.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said they were alerted to the fire at Block 45 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh at 9.40am. 

Firefighters had to force their way into the burning apartment as no one was in the unit at that time. The fire "involved the contents in living room", said the SCDF, adding that the flames were put out with two water jets.

Videos of the fire posted online showed a rising plume of black smoke that was visible from several blocks away. 

While no one was injured, the SCDF and the police evacuated the residents as a precaution.

Undergraduate Goh Xin Ying, who lives on the 13th floor of the 20-storey block, said she woke up at 9.30am to an unusual smell in the air. She only realised a fire had broken out some 15 minutes later, when the SCDF fire engines arrived with sirens blaring.

The 21-year-old immediately evacuated to the ground floor with her aunt, where a sizeable group of residents had already gathered.

She added that residents living on the 14th floor and below were allowed to return to their homes at around 10.30am.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NAJEER YUSOF