The Bukit Ho Swee Fire is a fire that broke out in the squatter settlement of Bukit Ho Swee

Bukit Ho Swee

Bukit Ho Swee is a place in Singapore which is located near Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, near Taman Ho Swee. Built over with wood frame huts with thatched roofs, it was an unplanned self-built township of about 20,000; although, like favelas everywhere, no census was ever taken...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, on May 25, 1961 at 3.20 p.m. Four people died, eighty-five were injured, and 16,000 were made homeless and more than 2,200 attap houses were destroyed. Many smaller household fires have of course since burned at Bukit Ho Swee, but the Bukit Ho Swee fire is noted at a definite term because it set a historical precedent, comparable to other fires such as the Great Fire of London

Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...

, although the Bukit Ho Swee Fire is smaller.

The cause of the fire is thought to be the immense flammability

Fire

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....

 of the squatter settlement, in addition to the cramped space. Whether the fire was due to arson or accident remains a mystery today. Nevertheless, the aftermath of the fire promoted a shift of people into the HDB-built public housing.

In the days following the fire, there was a massive charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 drive to aid the victims of the fire, methods of which included selling admission to several theatre performances and an ice cream social.

The government acquired the land and began reconstruction immediately after the fire to house the homeless. The Housing Development Board (HDB), chaired by Lim Kim San

Lim Kim San

Lim Kim San ; was a Singaporean politician. He was credited for leading the successful public housing program in the Southeast Asian city-state during the early 1960s, which eased the acute housing shortage problem at that time....

, quickly resettled the victims of the fire to recently built flats in the Queenstown

Queenstown, Singapore

Queenstown1 is one of the early housing estates in Singapore, built before Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio, and was a test bed for much of Singapore's public housing...

and St. Michael areas. The government then built the first five blocks of 768 flats in just 9 months. During the next four years, over 8,000 flats were built and those who lost their homes were able to return.

Subsequent fire

The squatter settlement soon re-emerged, despite the construction of emergency flats. On 24 November 1968 the new settlement caught fire again, rendering 3,000 people homeless. Following the fire, there was again another set of charity-based relief efforts.