23 fires involving hoarding in past 4 years: Shanmugam

1 week ago 53

SINGAPORE – While the number of severe hoarding cases here has been increasing, the number of hoarding-related fires has remained low.

In response to a parliamentary question on Feb 4, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said there were no hoarding-related fires in 2020.

But there were 23 in the past four years – three in 2021, six in 2022, nine in 2023 and five in 2024.

Mr Shanmugam was responding to a question from Mr Darryl David (Ang Mo Kio GRC), who asked about hoarding-related fires and if there were plans to improve inter-agency efforts to better tackle hoarding-related fire hazards in HDB flats.

The minister said the number of fires involving hoarding between 2020 and 2024 was low. As a comparison, there were about 800 to 900 fires in HDB flats each year since 2020, he added.

The hazards brought about by hoarding were highlighted following a fire in a Hougang flat that killed three people on Jan 9.

Neighbours said the family living in the unit were hoarders.

There were 357 unresolved hoarding cases on a watch list being monitored by the inter-agency Hoarding Management Core Group (HMCG) as of June 2024, up from 253 cases in December 2021.

The HMCG, which was set up in 2014, comprises the Housing Board, National Environment Agency, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Ministry of Social and Family Development, People’s Association, Agency for Integrated Care, and the Animal and Veterinary Service.

The group is led by the Municipal Services Office under the Ministry of National Development, and prioritises cases based on the threat to public health and safety.

Mr Shanmugam also noted that the recently launched New Environment Action Team, which consists of 28 members from government agencies, community groups and private organisations, will help identify hoarding cases early.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.

Read Entire Article