Loh Kah Seng – The Bukit Ho Swee Fire Part 1: The Biggest Fire | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Loh Kah Seng begins a new series on the 1961 fire at Bukit Ho Swee – the biggest in Singapore history and the place where he traces his roots. He relates the terror and chaos on that fateful day on 25 May 1961 as the inferno crossed two main roads and rendered 16,000 people homeless in a matter of hours. The fire was the topic of his PhD dissertation. In subsequent episodes, he will talk about what the fire meant to the people and how it changed Singapore forever. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/gfItIHDwjSA Part 2 | https://youtu.be/hTsdQ4k9ZZ0 Part 3 | https://youtu.be/juGDEJU00Wg Part 4 | https://youtu.be/9pI3QbR76XQ Part 5 | https://youtu.be/1mNjqU7UTAM Part 6 | https://youtu.be/5CQqsV2PX_E 00:00 Introduction 00:51 My Story in Bukit Ho Swee 02:15 The Fire as a Milestone for Singapore 06:30 A Typical Kampong 09:08 174-A Kampong Tiong Bahru 11:18 Battling the Fire & Fire-fighters 14:14 Arc of Destruction 18:03 In the Inferno’s Path 20:13 4 Dead 22:26 The Fire Site 24:27 Further Research 25:54 Outro My book, Squatters to Citizens: https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/squatters-into-citizens I’m Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com if you have any of these stories to share: • Old places or kampongs. • Communities – their way of life & culture. • Childhood & schools. • Work or business. Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551786759344 Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lks992002 Chronicles Research & Education is my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ Caveat: this is above all a podcast based on personal memory. As has been well-documented in oral history, memory is not always reliable and what is recalled here should not be taken as fact. However, as Alessandro Portelli noted, the subjectivity of oral history is also its great strength, and what is inaccurately remembered may point to how deeply meaningful the past is to people. #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore