The Westhoek fire brigade was called to a fire in a wooden storage building at the Chiro in the Donkerweg in Langemark on Tuesday evening around 11:50 p.m. This concerns the former football stand, De Saloon, next to the chiro rooms. Upon arrival there was heavy smoke development.
There were about fifteen young people in the building at the time who were doing an immersion week. They were outside throwing flaming tennis balls at each other when things went wrong. It was the young people themselves who alerted the emergency services. The mayor also receives a call from the chiro.
“The boys had called their adult supervisor themselves and that person had contacted me,” said Mayor Lieven Vanbelleghem. “They sounded upset. I think that’s the only word I can use. But they were all upset.”
