The phone rings. It’s Tuesday morning, about seven o’clock. Martin Zuidema answers and his son brings the terrible news: his company De Houtzagerij in Stadskanaal has completely burned out. “Then the ground drops from under your feet.”
In the night from Monday to Tuesday, a fire breaks out in his company. Not much later, the building is ablaze. Tuesday morning there is only a pile of charred beams surrounded by puddles of extinguishing water.
“We still have no idea what the cause of the fire was,” says owner Martin Zuidema. “There’s nothing left of it.” In his company he saws tree trunks into wooden planks for fences or sheds, for example. Appropriately, the business premises were also made of wood. Partly because of this, it burns down completely in a short time.
Property stood there for six years
He built the 350 square meter building six years ago. “And it looked really nice,” says Zuidema. “But of course you can’t do anything against such an inferno.”
Tuesday morning he is mainly on the phone. There was a batch of wood ready to be delivered to a customer on Tuesday morning. “I had to call it off. Everything is burnt out.” He tries to place other customers with colleagues as much as possible. “They do what they can. Fortunately, everyone reacts with understanding.”
Insurer
He cannot say what the damage is yet. “The insurer is now investigating.” Once that is done, Zuidema can continue with his business. “But that will take a while.”