On the different floors of the building, the smoke had already spread – via the lift cooker – when the fire brigade arrived. Immediately the fire brigade proceeded to the evacuation of some inhabitants on the top floors. That happened via the fire brigade ladder
The six evacuated residents had inhaled smoke and took them preventively to the AZ Groeninge hospital. There were also some children. The exact cause of the fire is still unclear. The street was closed to all traffic for a while. The Kortrijk output area is nearby, so that quite a few people on the street followed the intervention of the fire brigade.