Gerdy loses house in fire in Wijtschate: “I have nothing left”
Gerdy and his partner completely renovated his house in the Rijselstraat, until the resulting fire accident completely destroyed the house. “A new facade, new floor and bathroom, that was just finished before New Year’s and now there is nothing left. Do I have to start all over again? I don’t know,” says Gerdy.
“All Is Lost”
Insurance brokers measured the damage after the accident and the fire in Wijtschate yesterday. “But that will take some time, surely? In the meantime I have nothing left. There is nothing left to recover from the house. Everything is lost. I still wear the same clothes as yesterday.”
The insurers also visit the other residents. Although it will still be a battle to know who gets what compensation. “Here it is clear that the traffic accident is the culprit or the cause. That is already one thing that is excluded from your own fire insurance,” says acting mayor Bart Vanacker.
Dangerous intersection
Now Gerdy realizes what he himself has escaped. “It’s indescribable that I was lucky,” he says emotionally. He and his partner, like any resident who wishes, will be given shelter for the coming weeks. (Read more below the photo.)
Yet he also asks himself many questions at the crossroads. “I don’t understand why the municipality hasn’t done anything about it yet. There have been so many accidents with fatalities and now this.”
Residents have been complaining about the dangerous point for some time, yet the intersection is not on the list of dangerous intersections.