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Bukit Ho Swee fire

On 25 May 1961, the Bukit Ho Swee fire devastated an area of 60 a. and rendered about 16,000 persons homeless. One man died and several people were badly injured in this Hari Raya Haji fire as it swept across Kampong Tiong Bahru through Bukit Ho Swee to Delta Road.

Description
The fire, the biggest ever fire in the history of Singapore, broke out at about 3:30 pm at a squatter district along the hillside of Kampong Tiong Bahru. Fanned by powerful winds, sparks from the fire set alight colonies of attap and wooden huts across the road, engulfing five blocks of flats and shophouses nearby.

Evaluation
Two oil mills, three timber yards and three motor workshops were destroyed. Explosions were heard as 22 fire engines raced to fight the inferno. Troops from the British Army in Alexandra and the Singapore Military Forces in Beach Road helped to contain rapidly erupting fire fronts.

Aid for the fire victims consisted of donations in kind and cash from both the public and the Government. The Government had also pledged to move 1,200 families or 7,000 refugees in stages into the various flats under construction and to build 12,000 low cost flats for the homeless on land ravaged by the Bukit Ho Swee fire.



Author
Tan Lay Yuen



References 
Aid for fire victims. (1961, May 27). The Straits Times, p. 1.

Big fire's trail of ruin. (1961, May 27). The Straits Times, p. 16.

Government starts fund for fire victims with a donation of $250,000. (1961, May 27). The Straits Times, p. 1.

Hari Raya inferno. (1961, May 26). The Straits Times, p. 1.

Promise of aid from Tengku. (1961, May 29). The Straits Times, p. 1.


Further Readings
Che Yusof comforts fire victims. (1961, May 27). The Straits Times, p. 4.

$40,000 received for relief. (1961, May 26). The Straits Times, p. 1.

Kampong blaze - an aerial view. (1961, May 26). The Straits Times, p. 16.

The zig-zagging inferno [map]. (1961, May 27). The Straits Times, p. 16.


List of Images
State of Singapore. (1963). Annual Report, 1961 (p. 213). Singapore: Government Printing Office. 

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
Disasters--Singapore
Fires--Singapore
Singapore--History
History>>Asia>>Southeast Asia>>Singapore



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