The Bukit Ho Swee Fire is a fire that broke out in the squatter settlement of Bukit Ho Swee, Singapore, on May 25, 1961 at 3.20 p.m. Four people died, eighty-five were injured,16,000 were made homeless and more than 2,200 attap houses were destroyed. Despite the low casualty numbers, the scale of the destruction and property damages worth 2 million would set a historical precedent and the fire is considered a pivotal point in the physical modernization of Singapore.
Prior to the fire, the Bukit Ho Swee kampong was one of the largest surviving kampongs. The Housing and Development Board had been slowly replacing kampongs with modern flats for safety and hygiene reasons but the residents of Bukit Ho Swee resisted. Gangsterism was rife and basic commodities such as clean running water and proper sewer systems were nearly non existent.
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