The inhabitant of a house on the Mgr. Prinsenstraat in Waalwijk, whose ground floor apartment burned down on Saturday morning, has been arrested. The man is suspected of setting fire to his house. His upstairs neighbor is very frightened. “I was very lucky that it stayed with smoke damage.”
Rescuers helped the resident of the upstairs apartment get out on time. “I was sleeping and heard a loud banging on the door,” says Ruben van Beijnen, who lives above the burned-out house. “When I came down, the street was completely full and I only realized what was going on. Then I quickly went to get my cat and my rabbit was also saved.”
Ruben is still shivering in his pajamas a few hours after the fire. He realizes that he was lucky. “There was an awful lot of smoke from the ground floor apartment and the ceiling is made of wood, so it could have just skipped.”
Confused more often
Ruben’s downstairs neighbor is suspected of arson. According to Ruben, he often made a confused impression. “Earlier this week, a false report was made to the ambulance service. Then the ambulance was standing in front of the door here in the middle of the night, but the neighbor did not open the door. The police then kicked in the door.”
The fire in Waalwijk was under control around 10 a.m. Several houses in the area suffered smoke damage. The Salvage Foundation supports the residents of these houses in the settlement. Reuben’s house is also being cleaned. “Luckily I can sleep at home again tonight, for the same money I would have been homeless now.”
According to the police, the resident of the ground floor apartment appeared confused and was therefore taken to the police station.