The enormous fire three years ago at a transport company in Hapert is probably still remembered by many. An hour after the fire seemed to have been extinguished, the fire suddenly flared up again, while the firefighters were still on the roof. Research now shows that it would have been better to stop putting out the fire. “Then it stops and the building is lost,” researcher Jo van Hoef explains in a documentary about the fire, which the Brabant-Zuidoost fire brigade shares on YouTube.
In the 45-minute film, the firefighters go back to the day in question in May 2020. The fire broke out during work on the roof. The firefighters managed to extinguish the fire within a few minutes and complimented each other for their quick work. But during a follow-up inspection on the roof, the fire flared up more fiercely than ever.
The escape route was an aerial platform, but that caused a malfunction. Another aerial platform caught fire. And the walkie-talkies were also broken. While the flames spread and the 13-meter-high roof almost collapsed, the men were finally able to get downstairs because their colleagues placed ladders against the building.
“Sometimes you have to stop and think as a firefighter.”
It’s a wonder there were no casualties. That is why the fire brigade investigated the situation. An animation has been made of the storage shed and firefighters share their stories. A documentary was made of this, in the hope that colleagues will be better prepared in the event of a similar fire.
The fire brigade comes to the conclusion that they should have taken a step back earlier. It soon became clear that there was no way to save it. Researcher Jo van Hoef: “It was a very large complex, much larger than we are used to. And then, based on your experience, you fight something like that on autopilot. But sometimes you have to stop and think for a moment,” researcher Jo van Hoef explains.
“Sometimes we come to the conclusion that we should not make an effort, for our own safety,” adds researcher Frank van Oorschot. Then it ends for us and the property is lost. But that would have happened here anyway.”
“We should really invest more to get this right.”
It has not been discovered how the fire suddenly flared up again after an hour. It has become clear that these types of industrial buildings with high-rise warehouses pose a high risk if a fire occurs. The high racks ensure that a lot of oxygen can be supplied. And the insulating materials can produce dangerous fumes.
There are many buildings like this in our country. Firefighters therefore need to be better trained, the researchers believe. François Peeters, who was chief fire officer at the time: “We have to take a critical look at what knowledge we need to fight these fires in the future. And we should really invest more to get our firefighters to understand this.”
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Watch the documentary that the fire brigade made as a result of the investigation here:
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And here you can see what exactly happened that day:
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