Sixteen apartments in the De Leyhoeve residential care center in Tilburg were declared uninhabitable after Saturday’s fire. The damage is too great due to smoke or water. The homes also no longer have electricity. The residents of the other apartments are allowed to return to their homes on Sunday evening.
The residents who can no longer sleep in their apartments are allowed to go to their damaged home under supervision on Sunday evening to collect some belongings. The residents can return to the Van der Valk Hotel next night if they cannot sleep with friends or family.
Arrange childcare yourself
After Sunday, residents must arrange a place to sleep themselves. This can be done through their home contents insurance, De Leyhoeve writes in a letter that residents received on Sunday afternoon.
However, the residential care center is also looking into whether the residents can live temporarily in the care part of the complex. There are still some houses available there. It is still unclear how many people can go there.
It is not known how many residents will be able to return home on Sunday. They are welcome again from eight o’clock. The apartments will be cleaned before then.
Fire started in meter cupboard
A fire broke out in the Leyhoeve residential care center around five o’clock on Saturday afternoon. Mostly elderly people live in the complex, some of whom are independent and others who need help. The fire started in a meter cupboard on the second floor. A water pipe also broke, causing water damage.
Many emergency services responded to the fire in the residential care complex. Although the fire ultimately wasn’t too bad, about two hundred residents had to be evacuated. The police mobile unit was present to assist with evacuation. The residents were very frightened when they suddenly saw a whole procession of emergency services entering the parking lot. The residents were accommodated in the nearby Van der Valk Hotel.
Night at the hotel
Many sheltered residents were picked up at the hotel by family and friends. Some have been sheltered in De Leyhoeve itself. Extra beds and mattresses have been arranged for this. Some of the residents were allowed to return home on Saturday evening. The group of residents who need structural care were also largely allowed to return.
Residents of many self-contained apartments had to sleep somewhere else on Saturday night. Some spent the night at the Van der Valk Hotel.
Here you can read all the stories about the fire in the De Leyhoeve residential care center in Tilburg.