The fire in the former Leather and Shoe Museum on the Elzenweg in Waalwijk is under control, the Central and West Brabant Safety Region reports on X. The fire marshal’s signal was given around a quarter to three and the amount of smoke has decreased. The fire in the vacant building released asbestos and the fire brigade warns local residents not to touch any particles found.
The fire broke out around ten o’clock on Monday evening. The flames were shooting out of the roof. The fire caused a lot of smoke, which spread over the center of Waalwijk towards the northeast.
The sky turned orange in the area. An NL-Alert was sent to people in the area. The advice to residents was to stay away from smoke, close windows and doors and switch off mechanical ventilation.
Asbestos was released during the fire. The fire brigade uses measuring teams to map out where the asbestos particles have landed. “If you see particles lying around, they could also be other particles, for example from insulation material, then stay away from them and leave them behind,” is the fire brigade’s advice.
Seen young people
According to a 112 correspondent on the scene, the story is going around that a number of young people were seen running away just before the fire. A spokesperson for the fire brigade said on Monday evening that it was not known whether any young people had been seen. “We are now mainly busy fighting the fire.” The police could not be reached on Monday evening.
The building consists of eight halls, the front two halls have already almost burned out. The fire brigade reported that a lot of water was needed to extinguish the fire. Additional water supply had to be arranged with water trucks and by installing a water transport system.
Scaling up to Grip-1
The fire brigade scaled up to Grip-1, which means that coordination was required between various emergency services such as fire brigade and police. A coordination center was set up near the fire for cooperation between the various emergency services.
The fire raged in an empty building. According to the fire brigade, no people were injured and there was no immediate danger to buildings in the area.
The fire brigade arrived at the fire with eight tankers and two aerial platforms. Two water trucks, a hazardous substances advisor, a duty officer and a chief duty officer were also called in.
The Dutch Leather and Shoe Museum in the building on Elzenweg has been closed to the public since January 2017. A mural from the past can still be seen on the building.