The porch is pitch dark on Wednesday morning, the windows of the front doors are blackened. Down in the hall are the remains of what was yesterday a scooter. Residents of the porch flat on Van der Capellenstraat in Zwolle were evacuated in the middle of the night because of a fierce fire.
The fire near the Zwolle-Zuid shopping center is reported to the emergency services at half past three in the morning, who arrive immediately on the spot. While the scooter is extinguished, the porch is full of smoke. It is dangerous for the residents of the seven apartments, so they have to leave their home.
One of them wakes up to a loud banging on his door. It turns out the fire department. “I slept and didn’t notice anything. Only when I opened the door did I smell the burning smell and see the smoke,” says one of the residents the next morning.
Because not everywhere is opened, the fire brigade kicks in the front doors of four homes. The residents – including the presumed owner of the scooter – are not at home. The next morning a note from housing association deltaWonen points out the damage, although the forced doors are ‘closed as well as possible’.
A resident on the top floor cannot leave her home on her own and is rescued from her apartment by the fire brigade with the aerial platform. Care has been arranged for her and the other residents present. No one was injured in the fire.
Police suspect the scooter may have been set on fire. Initially, the forensic team would investigate further on Wednesday morning, but the fire destroyed possible traces. However, police have conducted a neighborhood investigation to find witnesses or camera images that can help with the investigation.
Police spokesman Sarah Lenderink repeats that call. She states that images from a doorbell camera or dashcam ‘could be crucial to the investigation’. People who have such images or who saw something striking in the area of Van der Capellenstraat in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, can report themselves via 0900-88 44 or anonymously via 0800-7000.