The major fire in the container housing complex in the Riekerhaven district of Amsterdam could have ended much worse, says fire expert Fred Vos. He finds the use of these containers as living quarters “idiotic” and “irresponsible”.
Vos has previously investigated the fire in a detention center at Schiphol-East in 2005, when 11 detainees died. He was also involved in it research into the fire safety of a student flat in Diemen. A 27-year-old man was killed in a fire in that flat in 2017.
With those investigations in his memory, Vos has an idea of how the fire in the container house could spread so quickly. For example, the building material is extremely heat-conducting. “Metal is a heat conductor, while you have to ensure that it stops the heat.” That is precisely the problem with a housing complex such as in Riekerhaven. “Those are all little metal boxes on top of each other.”
Vos therefore thinks it is important that all container homes are well insulated. “Those containers are all connected by corridors and connecting spaces. But because the metal walls displace the heat so well, it is almost impossible to ensure that the corridors are sufficiently insulated.” According to the fire expert, this is due to the air in the space between the containers. This way the heat can easily transfer to other containers. “So they’re not well compartmentalized.”
Collapsed
The fire in the container homes in the Riekerhaven district broke out around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Part of the building also collapsed. Miraculously, no one was injured. Well, there are at the fire six cats and a lizard died.
Mayor Femke Halsema expressed her support for the victims via Instagram on Monday morning. “Losing your home and belongings is a traumatic experience,” she wrote. “I deeply sympathize with the victims. I wish them all a lot of strength.”
The fire service assumes that the fire has been started. Police have arrested a 27-year-old man.
‘Doomed to fail’
The fire expert therefore considers the container homes absolutely unsuitable as a solution to the housing shortage. “Living in those containers is really irresponsible. It’s crazy. Those containers are not fireproof. It’s doomed to fail.” He also thinks that the authorities have failed to approve the homes. “The fire department should never have allowed this.”
No one died in the fire. Vos thinks that the time has ensured that all residents were able to leave the complex in time. “If it had happened in the middle of the night, the damage would have been incalculable.”
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