The impact of the major fire on the residential boulevard in Waalwijk only becomes clear to Teun Brink and his colleagues after a few days. He is a branch manager at Haco Wonen en Slapen and saw the store go up in flames on Thursday afternoon. The building has been completely destroyed, he says. “Everything is gone.”
It all starts on Thursday with a white haze that passes the Haco in Waalwijk. Employees see it happening. “They went outside and immediately smelled a burning smell,” says Brink, who was not in the store at the time. “Soon they heard the gas lines hissing.”
Everyone has to go outside. There they see the flames coming from the roof of the Kwantum. Only the Prominent building is located between that store and the Haco. The chance that the fire will also reach Haco is therefore quite high.
Brink and a colleague receive a call and they immediately drive to the store together. “We already saw the plumes of smoke passing by on the highway. Then you already know enough. When we arrived, the entire city was already in commotion.”
Once on location, they can’t do much more than watch the store slowly burn down with his colleagues. “Everyone was still quite calm at the time, not panicking. We had to move a little further away because of the large fire.”
A day later, everyone really realizes what happened. “Everything is gone. The building, the furniture, walls. Everything.”
Brink is a branch manager in Eindhoven and Tilburg, but has regularly worked in the store in Waalwijk. “All kinds of things went through my mind. A lot of sadness, especially. You are shocked at what such a fire can do. Everything you have worked so hard on with colleagues disappears.”
What now? It is now the insurance company’s turn, says Brink. The cause of the fire is still unclear. “I also don’t know when the store will return. First the rubble will have to be cleared and the buildings will have to be rebuilt. I have no idea how long that will take.”
People who ordered something from the Waalwijk store can go to Tilburg. Omroep Brabant also tried to get a response from Kwantum in recent days, but the company did not want that.
