Only a day later it is clear to see what havoc the fire caused in Pizzeria Porto-Fino on the Rozengracht in Zaandam. The windows are blackened. The tables are largely still set, as if customers are coming. They are only covered with a thick layer of soot. Some windows were smashed by firefighters to extinguish the fire. A single passerby tries to look in through the windows. “Terrible” sighs an elderly lady who surveys the devastation.
She says that she received a call from her daughter, who lives in Rijswijk. She had heard on the news that the pizzeria on the Rozengracht where she regularly ate with her mother was on fire. Another local resident who comes to take a look is surprised that he did not notice the fire: “I live a few hundred meters away.”
Cleared
The fire brigade evacuated a number of homes on both sides and above the restaurant last night just to be on the safe side. A neighbor looks back on a restless night. “I was trying to sleep, because I just had to work today when there was a knock on the door at half past two, and suddenly the police were at the door.”
Residents had to get dressed and go outside. After measurements by the fire service showed that the air quality was OK, residents of adjacent homes were able to return home. Residents of the apartments above the pizzeria spent the night elsewhere.
The Porto-Fino website states that the restaurant is closed, but that everything is being done to serve customers as soon as possible.