Mall Christmas tree goes up in flames in Singapore

A shopping centre Christmas tree has created an enormous cloud of heavy smoke above the street when it caught fire in Singapore on Wednesday.

The several-metre tall artificial Christmas tree soon became engulfed in flames and created a massive blanket of smoke which sat low over the Knightsbridge Mall.

Despite the sheer size of the blaze, security guards were able to extinguish it a few minutes after it caught fire about 9pm that evening.

"I saw something very bright and thought it was a performance, like a fire show," Wu Ning Li told the Straits Times.

"Then I realised it was a fire, and it was getting bigger and bigger."

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said nobody was injured in the blaze.

Knightsbridge is a luxury shopping strip in Singapore and the Christmas tree is a well-known feature of the shopping centre's festive season.