Residents Smell Something Burning At North-Eastern Singapore

By Massita Ahmad SINGAPORE, Sept 26 (Bernama) -- Residents in the north-eastern part of Singapore complain of smelling ‘uncomfortable’ air quality since late afternoon on Monday. In its Facebook update an hour ago (7.45pm), Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it had been receiving calls on the smell of gas or something burning in the area. It said it had deployed its resources to investigate the matter. “There has been no confirmed incident,” it said, adding that SCDF and the National Environment Agency (NEA) were closely monitoring the situation. On its daily update on haze situation, NEA said that as at 6 pm Monday, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was 50-54, in the low end of the Moderate range. “Thundery showers fell over parts of Singapore in the afternoon today. For the rest of the day, partly cloudy conditions are expected, and the prevailing winds are forecast to blow from the south,” it said. It noted that one hotspot was detected in northern Sumatra, and no visible smoke plume or haze was observed. The Straits Times reported that “the fumes are believed to be from Johor.” Miguel Pena wrote on SCDF Facebook: "Seletar airport area is the worst. Like driving in the clouds...strong smell of gas..." "Bishan like kerosene or fogging smell, choking, can hardly breathe getting headache all windows in home closed," wrote Leonard Low. In its latest update, NEA said it was alerted about 5 pm through feedback from members of the public of a gas smell in the Sengkang and Punggol areas. NEA said its officers were deployed to those areas immediately to investigate the smell feedback. “Air quality levels during the period were found to be well within safety limits,” it said. Since about 3 pm on Monday, NEA said winds were light and there was some convergence of winds over the northern half of Singapore, which might have led to an accumulation of smells in the northern area of Singapore. “Winds are expected to turn to blow from the south or southeast later tonight, which will help to disperse any smell in the area,” it said. Meanwhile, SCDF in its latest update said its monitoring teams had not detected the presence of toxic industrial chemicals in the air. SCDF and NEA said they would continue to closely monitor the situation. -- BERNAMA