1/3 Owner Ronnie Box of Pallethandel Den Bosch (photo: Raymond Merkx).
Owner Ronnie Box of Pallethandel Den Bosch had to watch on Thursday how a fire raged at his company. At around half past two, a fire broke out on the site of his company on Ertveldweg. The thick clouds of smoke that were released could be seen in the distant surroundings of Den Bosch. “We all work very hard here and yes, then it is really bad to see what is happening before your eyes.”
Box was working inside the office when the fire was discovered by an employee. “Our forklift driver drives around here every day non-stop. When he was throwing away some waste wood, he noticed that there was a fire in a stock. We immediately called 911,” says Box, while behind him some smoke still comes out of the newly extinguished pallets. .
“It shouldn’t have taken a minute longer.”
The fire broke out in pallets that were outside. Stacks of dry pallets surrounded the burning pallets. Sitting still until the fire brigade arrived was out of the question for Box and his employees. They were already trying to prevent worse. “We started to create buffer zones by driving pallets away and keeping our premises wet.”
But putting out the fire didn’t work. “We do not have the capacity that the fire service has. We mainly tried to prevent the fire from spreading to the other pallets,” explains the owner.
According to the fire brigade, the edge was cut, but in the end the fire was prevented from spreading to the largest part of the pallet storage. “It wasn’t close, or it really hit the stock,” Box also says. “When the fire department had water, the top pallets were already on fire, so it shouldn’t have taken a minute longer. If it had also shot into those piles, I don’t know if it could be saved.”
“Of course it hurts.”
Fortunately, that was not the case. The fire was brought under control after more than an hour. “Yes, it is a painful sight to see,” says the owner when he looks at the fire brigade who is still working on extinguishing the fire behind him. “On the one hand, I am relieved that the fire has not spread, but of course it hurts. We were really powerless and we had to wait for the fire brigade to arrive.”
Box does not yet know how extensive the damage is. “Initially, a stock of bobbins burned in some plastic bins, hence the smoke development. We will have to make an inventory of the damage later.”
The cause of the fire is unknown. “I don’t think we’re going to find out either. It was boxes of stock that were just there, nothing happened.”
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