A leaking roof, an enormous stench and no electricity: Wim den Brok’s house in Vught is uninhabitable. He and his family will have to live elsewhere for at least two months, he estimates. Wim lives next to the burned down house in the Taalstraat where an 82-year-old woman was killed on Monday.
“We were sleeping here”, Wim points out. Blackened beams can be seen less than a meter from his bed. You can look out from his bedroom through a hole in the roof. “Everything is now provisionally boarded up. We are lucky that it is dry, otherwise it will rain inside”, says Wim, who can barely contain it. Carpenters come and go in his house.
The neighbor is in action mode, armed with a power bank and a phone running overtime. “It shouldn’t be a sad story,” says Wim, who does not want to put his own suffering first. However, he does want to tell his story. The list of damage is considerable: the dormer and windows are burned in, furniture is black and both upstairs and downstairs there is enormous smoke and water damage. “The water has come down through the ceiling.”
“We notice that soot is very aggressive for your lungs. You can’t live here with a family. Everything is very dirty and smells.” He lives with his wife and two children (12 and 14) on the Taalstraat. “Now it is time for an emergency scenario. We have found something for tonight. We are now looking for a rental house for tomorrow and further, that’s going well.”
“Just got some underpants at the Hema.”
All his clothes have to go to the dry cleaners. “I’m still wearing the same thing. We just quickly got some underpants from Kruidvat and Hema.” He looks around in defeat. “This is really horrible.”
The fire in the terraced house next to Wim was discovered around five o’clock in the morning. “I grabbed my kids and went straight out.” He also tried to warn the victim, as did other neighbors. “We knocked on her window from the firebreak. I called her name, but heard nothing.”
“Nightmares have become reality.”
The feeling that predominates in him now is frustration. “I’ve had nightmares and they have become reality. For ten years I have warned the municipality and the GGD about this woman.” He says he has experienced several gas leaks at the neighbor’s.
Several local residents already told Omroep Brabant on Monday that they had warned various aid agencies about the woman. According to local residents, the 82-year-old resident suffered from collecting anger.
The woman is known to the municipality, a spokesperson for the municipality of Vught already told Omroep Brabant on Monday. “We have done everything we could within the possibilities of assistance.”
The cause of the fire was not yet known Tuesday afternoon. After an investigation, the police said on Tuesday morning that the body found in the house did indeed belong to the resident. The woman’s house is uninhabitable and now boarded up. Some people have left flowers.
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