Fire safety at the Prinsenmeer holiday park in Asten is not always in order. Omroep Brabant stayed in a mobile home for a midweek and found an old damaged geyser. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were missing. “If I came across this on vacation, I’d turn around.” According to the municipality, the fire brigade already has the park in their sights.
The author of this article spent a midweek in a mobile home at Prinsenmeer park in Asten to experience for himself what it is like at a park belonging to Peter Gillis’ Oostappen Groep.
With temperatures of around 10 degrees, heating is not an unnecessary luxury during this mini-vacation. Fortunately, this has been thought of with the mobile home that we rent at Prinsenmeer park. If we check in on Tuesday afternoon and the ‘mobile home’ entering, the gas heater is already on.
According to a manual on the inside of the kitchen cupboard, the gas stove should be switched on at the push of a button, but the next morning it turns out that this is more difficult than expected. Without a match it is impossible to get the thing to work. But it soon gets warm in the small holiday home.
Geyser and fire extinguisher
Also present: an old, open geyser. Remarkably enough, a button is missing and otherwise the geyser looks as if it has been through everything necessary. A large burn mark is visible.
There is a fire extinguisher next to the entrance to the mobile home. According to the label, it should have been inspected in March of this year, but this has not happened.
A smoke detector (nowadays mandatory in every home) and carbon monoxide detector are missing.
BrandsafeNL advises companies on fire safety. Upon seeing the photos, an employee immediately knows what time it is: “I think I see a Gillis park, is that correct?” He is clear about the photos we sent him. “It’s just not safe. It’s an open geyser, it’s not done that way anymore. But if you still have one, at least get a carbon monoxide detector.”
An employee of a maintenance company in Brabant who wishes to remain anonymous is also adamant: “If I came across this on holiday, I would turn around.”
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
He is also particularly concerned about the geyser: “That black spot is soot, it is due to incomplete combustion and that can be dangerous.” He is surprised that the geyser was still approved in June according to the (difficult to read) maintenance sticker. “There is a button missing, there is a stain on it. I find this very striking. I would not sleep here.”
Why not? “The risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is high with broken gas appliances. Especially this time of year, when people keep the windows closed and no oxygen gets in.”
He is surprised that there are no smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the caravan. “I am concerned about that. Those detectors should simply be there. As a landlord, you have a duty of care for your visitors. Such a caravan must be safe.”
Smoke detectors are now mandatory for homes and new holiday homes. This obligation does not apply to older holiday homes. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea to hang them.
“We also work a lot at recreational parks and I hang them everywhere, mandatory or not,” says the director of the maintenance company. BrandsafeNL also mentions other parks as an example. “There are standard smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and a fire blanket present. So it can be done that way.”
The experts are more lenient about the unapproved fire extinguisher. “According to the label, it was inspected in March last year and should have been inspected again in March this year. But legally once every two years is also good. Unless the installer or the factory says it has to be done more often.” Whether that is the case here is not clear.
‘Keep checking’
This is the situation in the mobile home that our employee rented. It is unknown what the situation is like in the other accommodations at Prinsenmeer park. There are hundreds of comparable mobile homes in the park.
The Oostappen Group has not yet responded to the questions from Omroep Brabant. In 2019, violations in the field of fire safety were already identified during a check on Prinsenmeer.
The municipality of Asten has announced that the fire brigade has the park in their sights. “The Fire Brigade/Safety Region Brabant Zuidoost has carried out an integral fire safety check. The report is being processed,” said a spokesperson.
The municipality also emphasizes that the fire service urgently recommends installing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, but ‘the first responsibility lies with the owner’. “We continue to monitor and enforce.”
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