1/2 Esther and Remko at the Leenbakker
They were right on top of it when a fire broke out in the Leenbakker in Ekkersrijt. They saw a bunk bed catch fire, but they did not have to count on much help from staff. “I do blame them for their ignorance. It could have been prevented.”
Esther and Remko were shopping together. On the way to the checkout, my husband went to get the car. Then they wouldn’t have to walk so far. “And then the fire alarm went off,” says Esther. “I saw large flames developing in the back corner, near the beds.”
Remko ran back into the store. Screaming. “Fire extinguishers! Fire extinguishers!” he shouted. However, the staff did not know where the fire extinguishers were located. When Remko found one himself, he walked to the fire to put it out. “I almost finished it.”
Meanwhile, according to the couple, staff were waiting at the entrance of the store. They wouldn’t know where the extinguishers were, let alone how they worked. And Esther and Remko find that really incomprehensible.
“Why isn’t anyone coming? Where are the fire extinguishers?”
“Remko was very angry,” Esther says. She saw her husband running through the store, ranting. “Why isn’t anyone coming? Where are the fire extinguishers?” In the meantime, his had become empty. “If I had three more fire extinguishers next to me, I’m sure I would have put the fire out. But now I saw the flames spreading again in no time. And then it became too hot to stay inside.
The fire brigade arrived after ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity to the couple. “Only then do you actually realize what has happened. I was really, really shocked,” says Esther. “When you hear and see afterwards how big that fire became, how long the fire brigade was still at work and that the entire highway was closed off. Then you think: what if we had managed it.”
The woman also began to worry about a figure she saw walking through the store during their visit. “I had a strange feeling about that,” she shares her thoughts. “He didn’t look at anyone and walked briskly, as if he was going straight to his goal. That was very strange, but I don’t want to suggest anything.” That feeling was confirmed by the staff, who had also seen something strange last week.
“Last week they found a burning candle in the cupboard around closing time.”
“Then around closing time they found a burning candle in the cupboard,” the couple recalls. Someone lit it and then put it in the cupboard, the employees suspect. This makes them think that this fire was also lit, but they are not certain. “Also because it happened near the beds, where there is not necessarily anything that could catch fire.”
This is what the fire looked like on Thursday evening:
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You can read more about the fire, the damage and how the employees are doing here