Fire Fatalities in Past Five Years and Extending Installation of Home Fire Alarm Device to All HDB Residential Units

6 Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in each year of the past five years, how many fire fatalities were there; (b) of the reported deaths, how many of them were due to fires at residential premises; and (c) whether SCDF will consider extending the Home Fire Alarm Device (HFAD) Assistance Scheme, which involves the installation of HFAD in all 60,000 HDB public rental flats, to all other HDB residential units.

Mr K Shanmugam: The number of fire fatalities has remained low over the past five years. All the fire fatalities, except one in 2017, were due to fires in residential premises. Table 1 shows the number of fire fatalities from 2017 to 2021 and the breakdown of fire fatalities at residential premises.

As the fire safety situation in residential premises is stable, MHA is not extending the Home Fire Alarm Device (HFAD) Assistance Scheme. Instead, the Singapore Civil Defence Force is encouraging unit owners to voluntarily install HFADs as it will provide them with early warning of fires. The Fire Code was also amended in 2018 to require all new residential units and existing units that are undergoing fire safety works to be installed with HFADs.