Three boys extinguish fire at church: ‘They prevented much worse’

Sebastiaan, Nick and Michiel, three boys of around fourteen years old, discovered a fire at the church on the Brink in Sint Anthonis on Tuesday evening. They managed to extinguish it themselves, even before the fire brigade arrived. “They did a good job, it could have turned out very differently,” says agent Jan Meijer proudly.

On Tuesday evening, the three boys cycled home along the Church of Antonius Abt on their way home. As they cycled behind the church, they suddenly saw smoke. “It was a starting fire on the outside,” says agent Jan on behalf of the boys. It was a burning piece of Plexiglas hanging in front of a window.

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According to the officer, the boys did not have a telephone with them, so they had to ask for help. “Two of the boys quickly went to the Friends cafe. It’s nearby. The other boy stayed with the fire.” In the cafe they pulled the manager on the sleeve. He walked back to see what exactly was burning and then called the fire brigade. “Then the plexiglass was burning badly. The window behind it was also cracked due to the heat.”

According to the officer, the boys quickly went to get buckets of water from the cafe. A smart move, because with that they managed to extinguish the burning Plexiglas. “They prevented much worse,” says Jan.

“The fire brigade has come to extinguish the fire and remove the smoke.” The fire did not eventually reach the church, but there is some soot damage inside.

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Officer Jan also came to the scene afterwards and spoke to the boys. “They were completely impressed by the whole thing, especially when the emergency services arrived.” He is proud of how the boys handled it. “They definitely did that well.”

The officer also says he suspects how the fire started. “It was probably lit by someone, because it was on the outside.”

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