A fire raged in an apartment on Thorbeckelaan in Assen on Wednesday evening. A fifth floor apartment caught fire. The fire was outraged and was under control after approximately 45 minutes. One person was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.
“The football match (France-Morocco, ed.) had just finished when we heard a parking lot in front of the complex,” says a woman who lives on the second floor. “I told my husband, ‘Go take a look in the hallway.’ He immediately went to a fireman who told him he had to get out right away. He wasn’t even allowed to take his coat.”
Firefighters tackled the fire from both inside and out and turned it into a “very large fire” to ensure that sufficient assistance was available to evacuate the apartment. The ambulance was also called as a precaution. About a hundred people were treated in the church annexed to the residential complex.
The fire was under control by a quarter to eleven. Most of the residents were able to go home by 00:30. Residents of 4 apartments were advised not to sleep at home, but to spend the night with relatives or in a hotel. It would not be healthy for them to sleep at home.
Residents who have to spend the night elsewhere often live on the same floor where the fire started. One of the residents said he saw smoke coming towards him in the hallway. “It went super fast, within a second I couldn’t see anything.”
Another shared how he felt the pressure of the smoke. “It was like I was sucked in. It was very scary.”
Mark Meijs, a spokesman for the cooperating aid organisations, said all people had been evacuated as a precaution due to the damage caused by the smoke and the spread of smoke. “Firefighters then investigated to see if there was no carbon monoxide and then said almost all homes are safe.”
According to Meijs, the fire was quickly brought under control. “Fortunately, the fire did not go beyond one apartment. In my opinion, it went quite quickly. The occupant of the house where the fire broke out was taken to the hospital. It is not yet clear how the fire could have started “.
The municipality of Assen will contact the residents’ association to see if there is a need for follow-up treatment.
