SINGAPORE - About 100 people were evacuated from the premises of a building in Bencoolen Street after a fire broke out on April 15.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire in an 11th-floor unit at 180 Bencoolen Street at around 2.15pm.

The Bencoolen, a building comprising both residential and commercial units, is located at this address.

The fire involved the contents of a kitchen and was extinguished using a water jet, SCDF said, adding that there were no reported injuries.

Mr Oliver Tan, 25, who lives next to The Bencoolen, first noticed something was amiss when white smoke covered his dining room window at around 2.30pm.

The SMU student said: “I noticed the smoke had turned from white to ash-grey and then black. It was quite shocking as there was a lot of black smoke coming out from the side of the building. We then noticed fire trucks and police arriving on the scene and realised it was a fire.” 

In a video Mr Tan took of the incident, smoke can be seen billowing out of a unit and engulfing the area.

At least four SCDF vehicles are also present and people can be seen running away from the building.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.