A fire broke out in the beach club Beachclub8, between the First and Second Battles in Rockanje, on Friday morning. The catering business can no longer be saved. The fire brigade is trying to prevent the fire from spreading to the nearby dune area.
The fire started around 4:30 a.m. The fire brigade is present in the South Holland seaside resort with several units. In connection with water extraction, more fire extinguishers were requested on site in advance. The beach tent is close to the dune area, so there is a risk that the flames will spread there. To prevent this from happening, the fire brigade keeps the dunes wet. A drone has been deployed to view the warmest parts of the fire. As a result, the fire service knows where extra efforts are needed and where the dune area must be kept wet.
There is a gas tank next to the beach tent. The fire brigade deployed a water cannon to prevent it from catching fire. Because the fire is raging in a nature reserve, it is a challenge to obtain enough extinguishing water. The fire brigade needs fresh water for extinguishing, so sea water is not suitable. Water is extracted from the village with fire hoses of up to 1,500 meters.
The Eerste Slag, one of the access roads to Rockanje beach, is closed. The parking lot near that road is also closed. Special fire brigade vehicles need this space to support water extraction. The beach can be reached via the Tweede Slag. The parking lot at this access road is open.
‘We are devastated’
Beachclub8 should be considered lost. The catering business regularly hosted events, such as DJ evenings and beach parties. On Friday 26 August, the second edition of the Celebrate Summer Festival of the beach pavilion would take place. The owner was called around 4:30 a.m. that the club was ablaze. The beach bar employees are “devastated” and thank them for the heartwarming messages they have received, according to a Facebook message.
The fire brigade allows the building to burn out in a controlled manner. In addition, a lot of black smoke is released, which travels over the beach. Because the wind is towards the sea, local residents are in principle not bothered by the smoke, says a spokesperson for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond Safety Region (VRR). The fire brigade burns the building to the ground. The spokesperson estimates that this will take another three hours.
It is still unclear how the fire started. The spokesperson for the VRR expects that this will also be difficult to determine, since the building completely burns out.
In 2010, beach club Cinq went up in flames at the same spot. Extinguishing the fire turned out to be an extremely difficult matter in the absence of extinguishing water. It is now important for the fire brigade to prevent the flames from spreading to the dune area, especially with the dune fire in Ouddorp last Tuesday in mind. As a result, about eight hectares of nature reserve were lost.