Grand café De Heeren in Helvoirt probably imagined the start of Boxing Day something different. A fire under the roof of the restaurant caused the owners some more Christmas stress on Friday morning.
A patio heater at the restaurant on Torenstraat caught fire at the end of the morning, shortly after the heater was lit. “I was standing at the back of the store when I suddenly saw a lot of smoke and flames,” says co-owner Erik van Asten. “The stove was on fire. I pushed it towards the street. There is a gas bottle underneath, if it explodes you will be further away from home.”
Sprinkling against slippery conditions
He called the fire brigade and in the meantime traffic was stopped in the street. The fire brigade was able to quickly extinguish the burning gas cylinder, which was under the stove and had caught fire.
The building was also ventilated because a little smoke had entered. “To prevent slippery conditions, the municipality sprinkled salt on the road after extinguishing the fire,” says Van Asten.
The fire caused a bit of a delay on an already busy day. “But if that’s all… It could have turned out differently,” the owner reflects. Staff who were actually free came to help. “Our first guests arrived an hour later. We are fully booked all day with Christmas lunch, drinks and Christmas dinner, so we are back to work.”