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Robinson's Department Store fire at Raffles Place

Robinson's Department Store at Raffles Place was destroyed by fire on 21 November 1972, with a loss estimated at over S$14 million. Nine people (eight of them employees of the company) died in the blaze which started at 9:55 am from a short circuit on the first floor of the four-storey building.

Description
As flames razed through the 114-year-old store, there was little time for the 350 employees and another 200 shoppers to escape. Millions of consumer goods for Christmas went up in flames which at one stage leapt up to more than 200 ft (61 m) in the sky and was visible from as far west as Jurong.

Evaluation
A Coroner's Inquiry into the nine deaths returned a verdict of misadventure. Eight of the nine deaths, the Coroner Mr Yong Yung Sui said on 5 February 1974, could have been saved by the Senior Electrician, Tan Song Chua had he adopted the usual procedure of turning on the main switch and restoring power to the lifts. The eight were trapped in the lifts during the fire while the ninth victim died in the toilet on the second floor.

The fire marked the end of Robinson's at Raffles Place but it certainly did not mark the end of Robinson's in Singapore. It is now located at Orchard Road, opposite to the Specialists' Centre and is the anchor tenant in Centrepoint since 1983.

Robinson's is now owned by the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Group. On the site of the unfortunate fire now stands the OUB Centre, the tallest building in Singapore.



Author
Tan Lay Yuen



References 
Eight of nine who died could have been saved. (1974, February 6). The Straits Times, p. 8.

'I panicked and did not put on main switch'. (1974, February 5). The Straits Times, p. 13.

Nine feared dead. (1972, November 22). The Straits Times, p. 1.

Third time unlucky. (1972, November 22). The Straits Times, p. 14.


Further Readings
Tyers, R. K. (1993). Singapore: Then & now. (p. 129). Singapore: Landmark.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 TYE) 

Thick basement walls save cars from blaze. (1972, November 22). The Straits Times, p. 9. 

The information in this article is valid as at 1999 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Events>>Disasters
Fires--Singapore
Arts>>Architecture>>Public and commercial buildings

Librarian Recommendations
>> Robinsons Department Store
>> Raffles Place


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