Boy (17) suspected of heavy fire care farm Roosdaal

The investigation into the facts is therefore taken over by the public prosecutor’s office West Flanders, the public prosecutor’s office Halle-Vilvoorde reports.

Animal evacuation

The fire in the farm De Hoeve of MPC Sint-Franciscus, a service center for minors and adults with intellectual disabilities, started in the stables of the petting zoo and quickly spread. The fire created a large plume of smoke that could be seen for miles around.

No one was in the building when the fire broke out. The farm employees still managed to evacuate all the animals from the stables. The residents of a neighboring building were also taken to safety, so that no one was injured. The fire brigade had a lot of work to put out the fire.

Long extinguishing

The fire was brought under control around 10:45 p.m., but it took all night to put out the fire. After all, there was a lot of straw and hay in the stables that had to be pulled apart to prevent any flare-up. Those stables could largely be preserved, in contrast to the main building of the petting zoo. It was largely destroyed by the flames.