Hazy Friday

The haze is back! Oh dear. This was the view that greeted us this morning when we'd reached the top of the Jejawi Tower at Chek Jawa. Much of Pulau Tekong is obscured by the thick haze, and we can't even see the hills of Johor beyond.

Firefighters put out forest fire at Sembawang

Photos from Tampines bushfires: Part 2

This is a continuation of my previous post on the bushfires that took place along a particular stretch of Tampines Avenue 9. Jeremy Chin, who submitted his photos to STOMP, has kindly shared his photos with me.

Here are his photos of the bushfire that took place on 3rd March 2010, some of which were posted on this submission to STOMP.









Thanks so much to Jeremy for sharing his photos and for allowing me to post them on my own blog. Credit also goes to STOMP for having posted his submissions in the first place. While I do not care for much of the content that goes up on STOMP, there are quite a few relevant or interesting posts that deserve to be shared and publicised. Whether it is about wildlife sightings, explorations of our parks and nature areas, human misbehaviour or ignorance, many of the posts on STOMP do serve as a platform for education and awareness with regards to local issues to do with nature and the environment.

Part 1: Bushfire at Tampines, 30th January 2009
Part 2: Bushfire at Tampines, 3rd March 2010 (this post)

Photos from Tampines bushfires: Part 1

Several weeks ago, I blogged about a submission to STOMP about a large bushfire along Tampines Avenue 9 on 3rd March 2010. There was another post on STOMP about the same fire.

This same area had caught fire at the end of January last year.

It turns out that the same person, Jeremy Chin, had sent his photos to STOMP last year, and also did so this year. Here are the original posts he had submitted to STOMP:

Tampines bush fire so huge, it can be seen from Eunos (31st January 2009)
More pictures from massive Tampines bushfire (4th March 2010)

He left a comment on my repost of his submission:

Hi Ivan,

I'm the original contributor of the above article to STOMP.

Happened to chance across your blog on the search engine.

Pls do contact me at destinee.sg@gmail.com if you need some high resolution photos of the above incident and the aftermath of it that's not available to STOMP or for anyone else.

I got in touch with him and he sent me his photographs, and kindly gave me the permission to post them up here.

Here are his photos from the bushfire that took place last year:














Coming up, Jeremy's photos from the March 2010 bushfire.

Part 1: Bushfire at Tampines, 30th January 2009 (this post)
Part 2: Bushfire at Tampines, 3rd March 2010

Haze from Tampines-Buangkok forest fire seen near Serangoon Secondary

STOMPer Carrick shot these pictures of the black smoke and haze coming from the bush fire which broke out on Mar 9 at the Tampines- Buangkok area.

The STOMPer snapped these pictures near Serangoon Seconday school and said:

"The area near Serangoon Secondary and Punggol Park was seen with a serious haze."

The STOMPer snapped these pictures at around 11:30am.

Related posts: Yet another raging bushfire at Tampines (7th March 2010)
More pictures from massive Tampines bushfire (4th March 2010)
Bushfire the size of a football field rages at Tampines (3rd March 2010)
Scorching sun turns Singapore from 'green' city into gold (3rd March 2010)
The haze is back at Pasir Ris (2nd March 2010)
Bush fire rages at Expo area (19th February 2010)

Related articles:

Bush fires worsen air quality in Singapore (10th March 2010) (Mirror)
Air quality slips into moderate range (10th March 2010) (Mirror)
Forest goes up in smoke (10th March 2010) (Mirror)
Vegetation fire at Tampines took at least 4 hours to put out (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Large fire at open field in Tampines (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Sorry kid, it's going to stay hot and dry for a while (2nd March 2010) (Mirror)
Last month the driest Feb in 140 years (1st March 2010) (Mirror)
February 2010 is driest month for Singapore since records began in 1869 (2010) (Mirror)
Driest February ever recorded to date in Singapore (25th February 2010) (Mirror)
February's a dry, hot season in Singapore (19th February 2010) (Mirror)
Smoke in the air due to bush fires (18th February 2010) (Mirror)
71 bush fires in two weeks (18th February 2010) (Mirror)

Yet another raging bushfire at Tampines

Two STOMPers witnessed the bushfire at the open field at Tampines St 45 today (Mar 7), and says the smoke engulfed the surrounding blocks, making breathing difficult.

Says STOMPer Putri:

"This open field near Tampines St 45 caught fire today (Mar 7), probably because it is so hot and dry.

"The picture was taken across the TPE."

Another STOMPer, Desmond, comments:

"This happened at about 1.45pm today, at the field next to my home.

"The sweltering hot weather must have dried up the vegetation and this resulted in a fire.

"The burning smoke engulfed the surrounding residential buildings, affecting resident's visibility. The smoke made breathing difficult as there was a bad smell and it was very dusty.

"Firefighters came in within a few minutes and started bringing out the hoses from the nearby blocks (which were at least a good 400m away from the fire).

"Policemen were everywhere, trying to get the public to stand back for their own safety.

"The fire was spreading quickly across the dried grass, and yellow smoke soon emerged from the thick haze as the fire grew.

"Fortunately, firefighters managed to slowly put out the blaze after their continuous effort in spraying water all over the blaze.

"I think it took about 30 minutes to extinguish the fire."

STOMP is trying to contact SCDF for more details, so do check back later.

Do check out the video posted on STOMP.

Related posts: More pictures from massive Tampines bushfire (4th March 2010)
Bushfire the size of a football field rages at Tampines (3rd March 2010)
Scorching sun turns Singapore from 'green' city into gold (3rd March 2010)
The haze is back at Pasir Ris (2nd March 2010)
Bush fire rages at Expo area (19th February 2010)

Related articles: Vegetation fire at Tampines took at least 4 hours to put out (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Large fire at open field in Tampines (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Sorry kid, it's going to stay hot and dry for a while (2nd March 2010) (Mirror)
Last month the driest Feb in 140 years (1st March 2010) (Mirror)
February 2010 is driest month for Singapore since records began in 1869 (2010) (Mirror)
Driest February ever recorded to date in Singapore (25th February 2010) (Mirror)
February's a dry, hot season in Singapore (19th February 2010) (Mirror)
Smoke in the air due to bush fires (18th February 2010) (Mirror)
71 bush fires in two weeks (18th February 2010) (Mirror)

I used to live in that neighbourhood! I do have fond memories of exploring that area of open land during my upper primary and secondary school days. Afternoons lost in my own little world, chasing after changeable lizards (Calotes versicolor), common Asian toads (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) and banded bullfrogs (Kaloula pulchra), trying not to get snagged in the thickets of giant mimosa (Mimosa pigra). Where I squatted in front of marshy ponds for hours, watching tadpoles and water snails. It was where I saw scaly-breasted munia (Lonchura punctulata), little heron (Butorides striatus) and white-breasted waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus). On many occasions, I saw people flying kites or playing around with remote-controlled helicopters.

If there's any consolation, this patch is just part of a large area of scrub and grassland found in many parts of Tampines and Pasir Ris. While the fauna and flora in this area are interesting in their own right, I don't think any species inhabiting this habitat is under any great risk of extinction. The vegetation will grow back eventually, what matters now is whether or not the original species will be able to recolonise the field from the surrounding patches of scrub, separated by barriers such as apartment buildings, roads and concretised drains and canals. I also hope that such fires don't become a regular occurrence, which would eventually lead to the growth of fire-climax vegetation, in which probably only a small proportion of common and hardy species would be able to survive in the long term.

More pictures from massive Tampines bushfire

Jeremy sent in more pictures of the Tampines Avenue 9 bushfire, which show the fire raging into the night.

A massive bushfire had broken out at a grass field in front of Block 723, Tampines Street 72 yesterday (Mar 3). The blaze was estimated to cover an area the size of a football field.

In an email, Jeremy wrote:

"This is the second time in the recent memory that a bushfire occurred at an empty plot of land in Tampines Avenue 9. The first time it happened was on Jan 30, 2009 at about 6:00 pm.

"The most recent one happened at the same place, possibly around 6:00 pm as well. But the date is now Mar 3, 2010.

"The recent dry spell due to the El Nino effect is probably behind the bushfire.

"And this time my friend who stays in the Eunos area was not the one who woke me up from my afternoon slumber like last year for my original article on STOMP on Jan 31 2009. Instead I rang him up to ask him to look east again."

Related posts: Bushfire the size of a football field rages at Tampines (3rd March 2010)
Scorching sun turns Singapore from 'green' city into gold (3rd March 2010)
The haze is back at Pasir Ris (2nd March 2010)
Bush fire rages at Expo area (19th February 2010)

Related articles: Vegetation fire at Tampines took at least 4 hours to put out (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Large fire at open field in Tampines (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Sorry kid, it's going to stay hot and dry for a while (2nd March 2010) (Mirror)
Last month the driest Feb in 140 years (1st March 2010) (Mirror)
February 2010 is driest month for Singapore since records began in 1869 (2010) (Mirror)
Driest February ever recorded to date in Singapore (25th February 2010) (Mirror)
February's a dry, hot season in Singapore (19th February 2010) (Mirror)
Smoke in the air due to bush fires (18th February 2010) (Mirror)
71 bush fires in two weeks (18th February 2010) (Mirror)

Bushfire the size of a football field rages at Tampines

A massive bushfire broke out at a grass field in front of block 723, Tampines Street 72 today (March 3). The bushfire was apparently the size of a football field.

STOMPer Michelle, who witnessed the raging fire, says:

"The fire started at around 6pm.

"As at 8pm the fire hasn't been completely put off, but SCDF officers are at the scene and the fire is under control.

"There is a jam towards Tampines Interchange because of the fire.

"The smoke is quite thick and can be seen from the surrounding blocks.

"I heard that the fire spread to the nearby heavy vehicle carpark, but I do not know whether any vehicles were damaged."

STOMP has contacted SCDF for more information.

Related posts: Scorching sun turns Singapore from 'green' city into gold (3rd March 2010)
The haze is back at Pasir Ris (2nd March 2010)
Bush fire rages at Expo area (19th February 2010)

Related articles: Sorry kid, it's going to stay hot and dry for a while (2nd March 2010) (Mirror)
Last month the driest Feb in 140 years (1st March 2010) (Mirror)
February 2010 is driest month for Singapore since records began in 1869 (2010) (Mirror)
Driest February ever recorded to date in Singapore (25th February 2010) (Mirror)
February's a dry, hot season in Singapore (19th February 2010) (Mirror)
Smoke in the air due to bush fires (18th February 2010) (Mirror)
71 bush fires in two weeks (18th February 2010) (Mirror)

I was on the way home at about 6.30 pm when my bus passed through this stretch of Tampines. I was surprised to see such a large area on fire, and regretted that I was sitting on the other side of the bus, making it pointless to try and take any photos. And even though my bus was air-conditioned, I could still detect the burning smell.

This same area caught fire at the end of January last year.