Exactly one year ago, Schellinkhout was shocked by a major fire with fatal consequences. The sea of flames ends the life of Brazilian Edilene, who was staying in one of the destroyed business units. Many tenants were left empty-handed and frustrated with the state of affairs. “It’s mind-boggling to see how it went.”
She still comes there every now and then, on the Dorpsweg in Schellinkhout. Where last year not only units full of tenants’ belongings, but also human lives were destroyed. “Grass is now growing where the fire was,” says Yolanda Visser. New life in a place full of pain. “I’m normally a pretty cool guy, but that still means a lot to me.”
On the night of January 28 to 29, 2023, the flames can be seen as far away as the West Frisian village. It shows the size of the fire where a deceased person was found a day later. 38-year-old Edilene stayed illegally in one of the units and has no chance in the unfair fight against the flames.
Financial blow to tenants
Until then, Yolanda’s husband Rob and son Kevin can be found on the property almost every day. Tinkering with one of the four vintage cars or the cross car. Everything goes up in flames. There is despair, anger and sadness. “There is one car that I and my father have had for 35 years,” Kevin said then, a few hours after the fire. “All my savings are gone.” Kevin does not yet know that a little later a body is found under the rubble, in the unit adjacent to theirs.
Watch the video of the day after the fire last year here:
Schellinkhout fire victim: “I have lost all my savings” – NH News
The fire has only losers. The relatives of Edilene are torn by grief. Life is never the same for them again. But the tenants – who used the units for storage and car repairs – are also left empty-handed. They often go on board for thousands of euros. Because only part of the damage that falls under the contents is covered by the insurance compensate. “You’re quickly talking about a loss of 60,000 euros,” says Yolanda. “And of course we don’t even count the hours worked.”
Harm Zwiers also suffers significant financial damage. He makes walk-in closets and has to say goodbye to his tools, among other things. “All together it cost about 70,000 euros. I was shocked when I added it all up. I got 33,000 euros back from the insurance, which was neatly arranged. But the rest is gone.”
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He will get over the loss of money and materials, he says. What still stings him a year later is what happened after the fire. Soon after the fire, the Public Prosecution Service ruled that no one would be prosecuted. Partly because it is impossible to determine how and where the fire started.
“It is astonishing to see how that happened,” says the former police officer, a year later. He believes that conclusions were drawn too quickly in the investigation. “I understand that there has to be a burden of proof against someone, but why don’t you invest in that? A person has died. That has bothered me internally, which is very frustrating.”
“Conclusions were drawn far too quickly and the officer was far too quick”
The accusing finger – also with Yolanda – mainly points in the direction of a fellow tenant, who provided shelter to Edilene. Both strongly suspect that the fire started there. There is no evidence and he was not present at the time of the fire. Harm: “I blame him for negligence. He has also been off the radar for a long time, unreachable. I met him one more time. That conversation was not pleasant.” The owner of the business park has also been acquitted and has so far refused any comment.
A year after the fire, tenants prefer to look ahead. Zwiers: “I took my losses. Immediately after the fire, we discussed with a number of tenants: is there an investigation? Can we hold someone liable? But that quickly turned out not to be the case. I have picked myself up again. and move on. Cross it out.”
‘Get goosebumps again’
Father and son Visser have another American and a cross car in a shed on the same site. “This space is a lot smaller, but maybe that’s a good thing. Then you can’t buy as many cars,” Kevin says with a wink. “I was done with it for a few months after the fire, but now it’s fun to fix up the cars together again.”
Father and son stand in front of the spot where flames rose from the units last year. And where Edilene had to die. Kevin points. “There, near that tree. She was sleeping there. When I think about it, I get goosebumps all over again.”
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Write down license plates and continue: “That’s not an inspection, is it?”
It was no big secret that illegal occupation took place on the business park on the Dorpsweg in Schellinkhout. Tenants were aware and according to the tenants the owner also knew about it. Sergej also lived there after a divorce for a longer period of time.
The municipality of Drechterland received several reports about illegal occupancy. Regular checks were carried out, but: “We were not able to determine that the units were occupied,” said then mayor Michiel Pijl a year ago.
Former tenant Harm Zwiers has his doubts about the checks that took place: “We saw people from the municipality coming sometimes. I did twice or maybe three times. Then they wrote down some license plates and then they drove on again. That’s No inspection? And there was never any follow-up. Yes, two weeks after the fire. Then there was a major inspection. Now that a death had occurred, they had to show their teeth.”
The municipality of Drechterland was unable to respond to questions about the current controls on illegal occupancy.
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