A short fire in the Bakker Bart bakery in Vlijmen caused considerable damage on Sunday night. Owner Pascal Bloemers discovered the fire himself when he received a motion alarm from his camera system at home in Culemborg. “Then I immediately jumped in the car.”
“You can smell it already, right? A plastic smell. Unfortunately, no smell of freshly baked rolls today.” At first glance, there appears to be little damage in the store on Plein in Vlijmen. Even in the bakery where the fire raged, only a burnt switch box is visible. “It seems like it’s not that bad, but it’s not that bad.” Bloemers walks through the closed store to the place where the fire started.
“There’s soot on everything. You just have to run your finger over something and you see it.” The fire started in a distribution box that controls the brake riser and cooling. In the brake proofing cabinet, bread molds over which the dough appears to have flowed are the silent witnesses of the fire. The cooling normally ensures that the dough does not rise too quickly.
“Luckily we saw it right away on the camera. It was hanging right in front of the brake riser.” The fire brigade quickly brought the fire under control. A door had to be forced to get into the bakery. The apartments above the bakery were temporarily evacuated. “Thank God it didn’t spill over.” Bloemers is sitting on the terrace in front of his shop on Monday morning, waiting for the damage expert.
He cannot yet say anything about the damage. However, much equipment will have to be replaced due to soot damage. Even in the store where there was no fire. “We just had new cash register systems two weeks ago. The air conditioners were also only two months old. We also have to throw away the stock.”
He does not yet know when the business can open again. “I hope to open at the end of this week, but that remains to be seen.”
