The blow was enormous and Daniël Roeleveld was shocked when his fish stall at the weekly market in Zundert completely burned out. Miraculously, the car with the counter and display case was spared. The fishmonger was offered help from all corners and he can go back to the market on Thursday. “It’s really incredible how many people have come to our rescue. I can’t thank them enough.”
“We had to throw away the fish that was in the display cases, we are not going to sell smoked fish,” says Daniel with a smile.
“We cleaned everything inside and out and the car now looks like new again.” The cart that exploded was the cooking area of the stall. “That is a separate trailer. I can temporarily borrow a stall from colleague fishmonger Schot van Dijke until our new one is ready.”
“Within five minutes the stall was ablaze.”
What started as a normal day at the weekly market ended in a true nightmare for Daniel on Thursday. “We saw a small flame in the extractor and within five minutes the booth was ablaze.” Seeing the flame, the fishmonger quickly turned off all the gas tanks. The employees started putting out the fire themselves and thought they had the fire under control. “But there were still flames in the flue gas duct. Then it went very fast.”
The stall could no longer be saved and Daniel started to warn the other market vendors. They started their cars and took a safe distance from the fire. One of the gas tanks in the fish stand exploded, but no one was injured as everyone quickly left.
“We’ve been so incredibly lucky.”
His phone has been ringing red all day. “Everyone offers help and calls me with stuff that I can use. “I still have so many people to thank. Without them I wouldn’t have been on the market next week.” On Wednesday, Daniël will be back in Brabant for the first time with his fish stall. “Then we’ll be on the market in Etten-Leur, on Thursday I’ll also be on the market in Zundert.
The fishmonger often thinks back to the fire and explosion. “Of course you keep thinking about it. We were so very lucky.” Still, Daniel prefers to look to the future. “I’m glad I can move forward so quickly. Monday we will buy fresh products and pick up the thread again.”
Images of the explosion:
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