Hong Lim Fire Shuts Zi Char Stall Indefinitely, Leaving 80-Year-Old Hawker Unable To Eat Or Sleep Well

Stall is the family’s sole source of income

But for the couple, the aftermath of the fire involves making tough decisions about the future of the business that they have poured effort and resources into for the last 23 years.

Mdm Saowanee, a Thai national with Singapore permanent residency, said she had difficulty securing other jobs in the past due to language barriers.

Hence, running the hawker stall with her husband has been the family’s source of livelihood.

Wife will take over main duties when stall reopens 

Mr Teo has continued to work in his old age because they are still putting their 23-year-old daughter through university, she said.

He used to man the stall by himself until the late afternoon, with Mdm Saowanee taking over for the dinner shift.

When they eventually reopen, Mdm Saowanee said she will take over both shifts and will only feel at ease allowing Mr Teo to assist with tasks outside the stall.

Asked if she was worried about stepping into the role of the main breadwinner, she said there was no choice.

The blaze had started from Mr Teo’s stall at lunchtime on Jan 2, the first business day of 2026, and was later put out by firefighters.

While no injuries were reported, thick smoke billowed from the building and diners had to be evacuated from a section of the food centre.

The aftermath 

Mr Teo was outside the stall when the fire broke out. According to him, a wok of hot oil was on the stove with the flame turned off at the time.

When CNA visited the hawker centre on Wednesday, their stall and the four adjoining stalls in the same row remain closed as the hawkers await checks on their electrical circuits and ventilation systems.

There were soot marks around the stove, and fridges and shelves were cleared of the usual ingredients and utensils with which the couple plied their trade.

Burn marks were still visible on the ventilation system at the ceiling of the affected section.

Asked if Mr Teo blames himself for the fire, Mdm Saowanee said he has not said anything about it to her since it happened.

“I did tell him it cannot be helped that this happened,” she said. 

She then recalled his silent response. 

Speaking to CNA previously, their daughter Kelly Teo said the family was worried and no longer felt safe letting Mr Teo continue to run the stall by himself given his advanced age.

But even if they wanted to, there is no clear indication of when they will get the all-clear to reopen. The hawker association’s vice-chair previously indicated that the reopening could happen between Jan 10 and 12, but this remains up in the air.

Prolonged closure makes future uncertain 

Every day that passes represents another day of lost earnings, and the couple are unclear how they can recoup their losses due to a prolonged closure.

They are hoping that their fire insurance will be able to cover about $2,400 (US$1,900) in losses from damaged kitchen equipment, such as their refrigerator and food processor, as well as cooking and dining utensils and ingredients.

Shellshocked by fire

Their family of three resides in a three-room flat in Bukit Batok, where Mr Teo has been resting. As he was still shellshocked by the incident, his family told CNA that he did not want to be interviewed for this article.

The couple met when Mr Teo travelled to Bangkok following the death of his first wife. He met Mdm Saowanee when she cut his hair at a salon and they later grew close.

She came to Singapore with him around 1999 and they married in the early 2000s.

Mdm Saowanee added that although her husband is decades older than her, she had never worried about his age before this as he took good care of the family.

Empathy for the affected hawkers

On Wednesday afternoon, CNA saw two long-time customers come by to ask after Mr Teo and comfort Mdm Saowanee, who was tending to the closed stall.

One regular, who declined to be named, said Mdm Saowanee has been a steady support for her husband, who is hard of hearing, at the stall.

Other hawkers, who were given the green light to reopen as early as the day after the fire, empathised with the stalls that must stay closed for now.

Ms Agnes Ng, 63, who sells curry puffs at Heritage Tanglin Puff, said she felt bad for the stallholders who are stuck in this predicament.

She pointed out that November to December is a low season for sales, and that many hawkers had pinned their hopes on business picking up from January.

“We are so happy, waited for this moment, (then) the fire that causes the disaster,” she said.

Although Ms Ng’s stall is open, her own sales have fallen by about 60 per cent since the fire.

Ms Ng said this may be because many people were under the mistaken impression that the entire section of the hawker centre is closed.

It did not help that the corner entrance to Hong Lim food centre along Upper Hokien Street, which faces the Fook Hai Building, was not accessible, she pointed out.

The entrance was still closed off by a cordon when CNA visited the hawker centre on Wednesday afternoon.

Given the impact on business, Ms Ng added that she intends to ask the hawker association about the possibility of a rebate of one to two weeks on their stall rent.

Hawkers whose stalls remain closed will be feeling “uneasy” and a bit “desperate” at the loss of income during this period, said stallholder Eddy Wan, 46.

“You’ve got to be very upset and very mad and very frustrated,” said the western food hawker, whose own stall, Eddy’s, has reopened.

Mr Wan, whose stall is opposite Ho Kee Seafood, was the one who helped to pull Mr Teo to safety when he saw the elderly man lingering near the flames.

He, too, had suffered losses. Following the incident, Mr Wan had to throw away about $500 worth of ingredients that were damaged by water when the sprinklers activated.

Though he has since reopened, his sales have also taken a hit of around 30 to 40 per cent.

But he also saw things positively, saying: “Maybe this one is a very good wake-up call for everybody to stay more alert. You know, safety first.”

He added that it was close to a “miracle” that there were no injuries or casualties in the fire.