The complete garden including a cafe, barn and monument for the deceased dogs of Fred Schouten and his wife Jolanda burned down on Wednesday night at Maaslaan in Helmond. Fred has always been terrified of fire and therefore removed all the plugs from the sockets. Yet his worst nightmare was released. “It made me something very beautiful, but everything is gone.”
Fred had not left a tear after the fire in his garden, but when he looks at the havoc on Thursday morning and tells his story, he breaks. “The awareness is now coming. I had made something very beautiful with a cafe, barn, wicker upholstery and palm trees, but now everything is gone. My place,” he says emotionally.
The fire broke out on Wednesday night at ten past one. “My wife saw something flash. She thought it was thunder, but when she looked out of the skylight, she saw flames in the garden. I went down to open the roller shutter to put out, but I didn’t get the roller shutter open anymore,” Fred looks back.
“Flames struck five meters high from the barn.”
In no time, the entire garden was lit up and the fire brigade pulled out with two extinguishing vehicles. “The flames struck five meters high from the barn,” he says.
Fred had transformed the entire garden into his paradise with a great pride in a cafe in the extension. “A very nice bar where we have been enjoying a beer and setting up pleasant music for six years. But after a party I always pull the plug out of the socket, because I have always been afraid of fire,” says the resident.
Yet his biggest nightmare became reality. Two fences, the barn and the café went up in flames. The windows of Fred and his neighbors are cracked by the fire and both gardens are a mess.
A monument with the photos and names of their six deceased dogs also went up in flames. Jolanda, Fred’s wife, is devastated. The fire brigade managed to prevent the fire from spreading to their house.
“I think the cafe will not return.”
“You don’t want to have the fire inside of the house,” says the resident. “Everything is replaceable in the garden, but I don’t think the cafe will be back. I can’t do it anymore.”
In addition to realizing what happened to them, Fred also wonders on Thursday morning how the devastating fire could arise. He himself suspects that arson is the cause. Local residents have heard a car driving away.
The police said that there are no indications of arson and that there is therefore no further investigation into the cause of the fire.
