A large fire in a senior complex, Sunday evening in Eindhoven, has made a big impact. All residents of the 114 apartments had to leave their homes in a hurry when flames erupted from two apartments. So is An, who lives on the fifth floor next to the apartment where the fire started. “It was so hot, the wallpaper was just coming off the wall.”
The fire broke out on Sunday evening on the top floor of the complex at the Amandelpark in the Vaartbroek district. Soon the fire brigade scaled the fire to ‘very large’ and all residents had to go outside.
‘looked like fireworks’
“I heard the wallpaper crackling from the heat,” says An about the moment the fire started at her neighbors. “It was like fireworks. It was so hot, the wallpaper just came off the wall.”
When she looked out the window she saw the flames and thick black smoke suddenly rose on the other side of the house. “I called the fire brigade, but they were already on their way.” Then she quickly went outside: “The flames burst out on all sides.”
Burning flakes on balcony
Jan (82) also did not know what hit him. He was quietly watching football when he suddenly smelled a burning smell. “I first thought of a burning candle that had run out,” he says. At first he didn’t notice anything about the fire trucks outside, because he had the sound of the football match ‘on his ears’: the sound of the TV was linked to his hearing aid.
His 84-year-old neighbor Toos was also unaware at first, until she suddenly heard screaming in the hallway. “When I looked outside I saw all kinds of burning flakes on my balcony,” she says. There wasn’t much time to look at it: there was a knock on the door and a neighbor pulled her into the hallway. “I was just able to grab my bag.”
Pizzas for everyone
All residents were taken care of in community center De Huiskamer, around the corner. Local residents spontaneously opened the community center to welcome everyone. A pizza shop spontaneously brought bags full of pizzas.
Late Sunday evening, fear and uncertainty dominate many of the residents. For example, Toos’s balcony door is still open. She fears that her balcony has caught fire and may no longer be safe. “I’m still shaking. From the cold, but also from the fright.”
Jan is also distraught. He couldn’t take his walker, even his walking stick, with him in all his haste. “I’m not that fast,” he says. He has now received the results of the football match in De Huiskamer. “Too bad I couldn’t see it myself.”
READ ALSO: Large fire in Eindhoven seniors complex under control, building evacuated