Steps to Reduce Vegetation Fires

Mr Vikram Nair asked the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs in light of the increase in the number of vegetation fires since 2022 as well as the increase in Singapore's annual average temperature over the years, whether the SCDF is taking precautionary steps aimed at reducing vegetation fires.

Climate change has resulted in drier and hotter weather in recent years, increasing the risks of wildfire. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) leads an inter-agency Wildfire Task Force, comprising members from relevant agencies, such as the Singapore Land Authority, National Parks Board, National Environment Agency and Public Utilities Board, to proactively minimise the risk of vegetation fires.

The Wildfire Task Force actively monitors weather patterns and initiates preventive measures ahead of anticipated dry spells. These measures include identifying potential hotspots, such as areas with dense vegetation for closer monitoring, watering and trimming of overgrown vegetation, creating "fire breaks" or buffer zones to prevent fire spread during vegetation fires, and educating the public not to indiscriminately discard lighted materials, such as cigarette butts, onto grass patches.

I know in the past, the SCDF has managed to reverse the rising trend of wildfires. Does the SCDF envision that this can happen again with the additional measures that are in place?

Speaker, I think the Member is right in that, over the last few years, the number of vegetation fires has generally been kept under control – under 200 per year over the last five years.

However, we do know, especially for weather, we do have to take a much bigger and longer-term perspective. When we look at 2018 to 2019, the numbers were much higher. In 2019, for example, it was in the 800s per year. That was also because during 2019, there were sustained periods of dry weather leading to spontaneous fires sparking off.

What is important here is that we need to watch the weather patterns very carefully. It is seasonal, very dependent on how much rainfall we get. It is important for us to stay vigilant and take proactive measures, the measures that I have mentioned above. Whenever we work very closely with the other agencies, when the Meteorological Service tells us we should anticipate dry weather, I think that is when we need to take even more proactive prevention methods.