Residents of the apartment complex in Breda are fed up. According to the residents, the fire in the parking garage on Wednesday night is the umpteenth. They are also terrified of the fire. “I found it traumatic and very intense. The hallway was completely black with smoke. I went outside in my socks and without a coat,” says resident Lidwien Meijer.
On the outside of the building you can see that the ventilation grilles are blackened, the balconies above are also jet black. “The doors were shaking. I wondered what it was, it was car explosions apparently. As soon as I opened the front door, the hallway was already black with smoke.” Resident Lidwien is still impressed by it. “The sirens, the fire: it keeps ghosting in your head.”
Lidwien slept with her daughter on Wednesday night and was not allowed to enter her house. She is very vocal about the cause. She suspects arson because according to her it is already the third time in four days that there has been a fire. “That can not be a coincidence. We don’t have any proof, but it seems like they need someone in this complex.”
Resident Natascha de Jong was watching TV on Wednesday evening when the device suddenly stopped. She, too, stepped into the jet-black smoke to get away. “I knocked on the neighbors door to tell them to get out. It was also black with smoke outside, we could no longer see the other side of the street.”
“That caused a bit of panic. You’re scared of the monkey acid.”
She slept at home on Wednesday night. She was allowed back into her apartment around an hour. The windows had to be left open for ventilation.
Natascha says she is angry, because this is the umpteenth time there has been a fire. She also suspects arson. “The third time in four days, that is saying something. I am very angry with certain authorities that nothing has been done with it.”
Jack Leesmans lives on the fourth floor of the building. He too had to leave. “The smoke entered me, the fire alarms went off. Yes, that caused a bit of panic. You’re scared the monkey acid.” There is light soot damage in his apartment. “But the outside doesn’t look like much.”
Police say they are investigating the fire. They don’t yet know what caused it. “We have no indications that the fire was started, but we also speak to people in the area. We want to rule out arson.”
The police are aware of the stories of local residents and confirm one previous fire in the parking garage on Boxing Day. According to a 112 correspondent, it was then a car that was on fire, also in the parking garage. He also heard from local residents that there would have been a third incident last week.
The housing association Laurentius rents out the houses in the complex. She has not yet responded to questions from Omroep Brabant and expects to respond on Thursday afternoon.
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