For Nico Koeken it is just Sunday morning after the fire at Autodemontagebedrijf Joko in Wernhout. He lives right next to the site where on Saturday evening dozens of cars caught fire. “At one point a lot of black smoke came and it all started crackling and clapping.”
An evening like any other runs a bit different for Nico, when he suddenly hears a blow. “I thought it was a shot from a hunter. I went to look outside and suddenly saw a lot of smoke above the roof of the company next to my house.”
For a moment he thinks the fire is in the shed of his cousin’s car scrapyard. “But it was outside anyway, it turned out later. At one point I called the neighbor, because the smoke got worse and it all started crackling and clapping.”
The fire brigade scaled up considerably and was present with several vehicles, a platform and extra water transport. “Firefighters still tried to get water out of my well,” says Nico. “But it is completely empty. They were able to get the water a little further.”
There were more than five hundred cars on the site of the company, which is about ten thousand square meters in size. There is also a large shed on the site. According to the Central and West Brabant safety region, this has not been a fire. “I live next to it, so it was quite exciting.”
The burning cars were at the back of the scrap yard. The fire brigade managed to insulate these vehicles, so that the fire could not spread any further. “Fortunately, the fire has not been skipped,” he adds, while he has since recovered a bit from the shock. “That will wear out again.”