Nico Lansen then continues working on the Dijk for hours.
And Mark only recently learned how this went thanks to the tapes. “The ambulances had to be somewhere, scaled up again and again, commanders deployed well, a lot of information. He managed to coordinate all those signals, stimuli, emotions, also in his head. He continued to lead. He did so extremely well. He was way ahead of his time.”
Only on January 11 does Mark wake up from his coma and hear the extent of the disaster. Ultimately, fourteen young people died as a result of the New Year’s fire. Hundreds have been injured.
He never received proper help after the fire. “Of course he had seen us injured. He had completely experienced that night himself. And then he got a bit of a kick out of the report.”
In the aftermath of the disaster, an investigation was launched into the functioning of emergency services.
Worrying about investigating the fire
The fire brigade received no immediate criticism. The municipality in particular had to endure it. Nevertheless, Nico Lansen took the areas for improvement personally. “He had made the choices. And he could worry about that for a long time. It was said that he had done well, but he could not allow that.”
It was too painful for him to resume work at the fire brigade and Nico eventually quit in 2003 – Mark was nineteen.
“It really felt like someone had died at home. I remember even calling in sick to work. It was just so crazy. We were all devastated.”