Imagine: you just bought a house a year ago, renovated everything and suddenly a fire breaks out. That happened to a couple on Wagenaarstraat in Tilburg Tuesday morning. The neighbors’ houses were also damaged.
The fire, in which everyone remained unharmed, came into being shortly after roofers were at work. “It is possible that it has something to do with it, but we are not about that,” says Sjaak Kroot of the Central and West Brabant fire brigade. The fire was short and bright, possibly because there is a lot of wood in the roof construction. The fire brigade even had to scale up, because the fire spread to adjacent houses.
One of those houses is from neighbor Jan Kenkens. He was working in the barn and heard that the roofers were working on the roof. “At a certain point I heard:” Water, water, water. “So I quickly rolled out the garden stroke, but at that moment the fire already hit out and there was no saving anymore.”
He still has to wait and see how large the smoke and water damage is. “But the neighbors will not be present in the coming months,” he expects. “The roof is completely open and undoubtedly the below floors will have a lot of water damage.”
“You just don’t give this one.”
“They are old houses, there is only a small spark and then it happened. It’s no different.” The neighbor finds it a shame for the couple. “They are very nice people. They bought the house last year. New frames and doors put in everywhere, fully renovating and then this happens,” he says. “They can in fact start again. You just don’t want anyone.”
Joke Geerts, who lives two doors away, is very shocked. “I heard roofers busy and went upstairs. Then I went downstairs and suddenly I saw a smoked roller. That smoke was not normal.”
Shortly thereafter, she was boned on her door and she had to go outside immediately. She hopes that the damage in her own home is not so bad. “I have just rebuilt the entire kitchen, so I hope I don’t have soot damage. Because then I can start all over again and I don’t feel like it.” She can live with only smoke damage. “But I think that the person with whom the fire broke out can forget everything.”
The couple affected by the fire did not want to talk.