A large fire raged on an industrial estate on the Emdenweg in Groningen on Saturday evening. The fire was under control around midnight. A spokesperson for the fire service said that the after-extinguishing will take a few more hours.
According to a spokesman for the fire service, at least one building must be considered lost. Other buildings in the industrial area were also damaged. It is not yet known exactly how many companies have been affected.
The Emdenweg is located on the Euvelgunne industrial estate to the east of the city. Several fire trucks were deployed to fight the fire. An NL-Alert was sent in Groningen because a lot of smoke is released during the fire. Residents of the city were warned to keep windows and doors closed. The alert will remain in effect for the time being because smoke is also released during post-extinguishing.
The fire service warned on Twitter that soot particles could end up in the area because of the large amount of smoke that is released. Measuring teams are investigating whether this is indeed the case.
It Daily newspaper of the North reported that a flying hot-air balloon became entangled in smoke and had to make an emergency landing, but the fire service could not confirm this.