The large fire in the warehouse of recycling company De Graaf in Purmerend has not yet been completely extinguished. Spokesman Dennis Glijn of the Zaanstreek-Waterland safety region tells NH that it is possible that the fire brigade will have to extinguish the fire for a whole day. Firefighters work in shifts and take turns regularly.
At times, smoke and odors are still released because the paper must be thoroughly wetted before the fire brigade can safely dispose of it. If people notice that, the spokesperson recommends keeping windows and doors closed and turning off the ventilation.
The fire started around 1 a.m. last night and was noticed by a passerby shortly afterwards. Soon many fire trucks were sent from many regions of North Holland. Because there were many paper bales in the shed, the fire was difficult to fight. The fire brigade is now getting the paper out of the shed bale by bale.
Extinguishing robot returned empty-handed
The fire brigade tried to use a fire extinguishing robot, but had to return it empty. “The extinguishing robot is very efficient in some fires, but here there were so many obstacles that the extinguishing robot could not properly reach the seat of the fire,” says the spokesperson. “Ultimately we worked with larger and higher material to get to it properly.”
According to the safety region, local residents have not (had) much trouble from the smoke development. The smoke went in the ‘good’ direction: “Fortunately it stayed on the industrial estate and did not blow into the residential area.”
There are still soot particles in the environment, but they would not be harmful. The fire brigade used several vehicles to wash it away. No one was injured in the fire.