Huge fire destroys thrift store, nearby houses evacuated

A huge fire on the De Run industrial estate in Veldhoven completely destroyed a thrift store on Saturday night. The fire spread from the thrift store to a building next door. An NL Alert was sent due to the large smoke development, a number of people in the neighborhood had to leave their homes to be sure. The demolition and subsequent extinguishing of the building will probably take all Sunday.

No one was injured in the fire.

Discovered by firefighters
The fire was discovered by the fire brigade itself around a quarter past three on Saturday night. On the way back from another report, firefighters saw the fire on the industrial estate.

The thrift store on the industrial estate was on fire. It was soon scaled up to ‘very large fire’. Extra fire trucks were deployed to prevent neighboring buildings from catching fire. But that could not cause a building next to the cycle to catch fire. Although the damage seems to be not too bad: there is mainly fire damage on the outside of the building.

NL alert
Because a lot of smoke was released during the fire, an NL Alert was sent. The fire service advised people living in the area to keep windows and doors closed if they were bothered by the smoke.

Collapsed
According to the 112 correspondent, the entire building of the cycle was completely lost in the fire. At the back of the thrift store are a number of houses, on the Dorpsstraat. The sheds of those houses are adjacent to the burning building. Residents of a few houses therefore had to leave their homes, just to be on the safe side.

A firefighter became unwell while extinguishing the fire. He was overcome by the heat of the fire.

Around five o’clock in the morning the blazing flames seemed to have disappeared and there was still a lot of smoke to be seen. The fire brigade tried to fight the fire from above with at least four cherry pickers. The fire was under control around 6:30 p.m.

The building of the thrift store is now being demolished, so that it can be properly extinguished. That will probably take up a good part of the day.

The fire service reports that a number of houses and businesses in the area also suffered fire and smoke damage. The subsequent extinguishing and demolition of the building of the thrift store will take some time.

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