Neighborhood Den Helder still in uncertainty after fire: who pays for asbestos cleaning?

Last month, a large part of a flower bulb company in Den Helder burned down. The fire then released a lot of asbestos, part of which ended up in the gardens of local residents. The question of who should pay for the cleaning – the flower bulb company, the municipality or the local residents – has still not been answered after four weeks.

No responsibility

And that causes a lot of unrest among the neighbors. If the neighbors have to pay for the cleaning themselves, they must arrange this with their own insurance. The insurance of Marloes Hoefnagel, one of the local residents, has already announced that it will not cover the remediation. “It’s just awful,” said Hoefnagel.

According to Hoefnagel it is chaos. “It is now about 800,000 euros and no one is taking responsibility. The municipality is getting its own citizens into trouble under the guise of rules.”

But according to the municipality, nothing has been decided yet. The flower bulb company’s insurer must first assess whether they will cover the cleaning costs. After the fire, this was expected to take about a week. The flower bulb company and the neighbors have now been in limbo for four weeks.

Hoefnagel’s loss adjuster said in a letter that four weeks is exceptional. ‘Staying in the dark for so long is also new to us’.

Cleaning is stopped

According to Hoefnagel, the remediation company has stopped cleaning. “They started, but stopped again. The remediation company does not want to continue until it is clear who will pay for the costs of the cleaning.”

She was actually no longer allowed to go into her garden because of the asbestos, but Hoefnagel ignored that request. “We only let the piglets in, because they really root in the ground.”