Lars de Bruijn from Flore restaurant in Rijsbergen was sitting unsuspectingly on his terrace on Thursday afternoon when he suddenly saw a burning caravan speed past. The restaurant owner rushed to the caravan with a fire extinguisher, smashed a window and started to extinguish the fire. But Lars was unable to prevent the rut hut from completely going up in flames. “Once it starts, it goes fast,” he says.
Lars was sitting on the terrace with a representative on Thursday afternoon when he suddenly saw smoke. Shortly afterwards he saw a burning caravan driving by. “The flames were already shooting out of the roof,” says the restaurant owner.
The burning caravan stopped behind the terrace of the Flore restaurant. “Thank God he drove a bit further, past the restaurant. Our staff was already standing in front of the window and thought: what is happening here?”
Lars didn’t hesitate for a moment and approached the fire with a small fire extinguisher. “There was already some oxygen coming to the fire, but I still smashed the window and tried to extinguish it.”
“Once it works, it goes quickly.”
The fire brigade also responded quickly, but these ‘auxiliary forces’ were unable to prevent the caravan from going up in flames. “There’s nothing left,” says the restaurant owner. A piece of hedge belonging to Lars’ neighbor also went up in flames.
The driver of the car that towed the caravan escaped unscathed. “He is an acquaintance of mine. He was on his way to an event in Wernhout, but now has to find another place to sleep,” Lars says.
The car was not damaged. The driver managed to disconnect the caravan in time and drive to the roadside. “On the roundabout nearby he noticed that the curtains were on fire. Then you were of course shocked, but once it started, things went quickly,” says Lars.
Still, the entrepreneur is relieved that no one was injured and the damage, apart from the caravan, was limited. “In a village you try to help each other,” he explains his attempt to extinguish the fire.
