The shock is still good with Angelique Soer and Robin van Hoof from Beek en Donk. On Monday evening, the couple was called out of bed around eleven o’clock after a fire broke out in the neighbour’s house. It was completely destroyed in less than half an hour. “It went through marrow and bone.”
“We had been in bed for a while,” says Angelique, who is currently pregnant. “Just watching some Netflix. Until suddenly the bell rang. Who is at the door so late, we thought.”
That quickly became clear. “My friend looked at the window. The neighbor called to him that we had to go outside immediately, because her house was on fire. Half sleepy, we left quickly. It was very hot on the landing. You just felt that not because of the weather.”
Once outside, the fire seemed to be not too bad at first, says Angelique. “At that time it was still a small fire. But it got bigger and bigger. At one point you heard bangs and hiss. My friend quickly removed his scooter to prevent it from exploding because of the petrol.”
“We especially felt so sorry for the neighbor and her children. To see them there in tears…”
Firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to neighboring houses. “Of course we were afraid of that for a while. But we felt so sorry for the neighbor and her children. To see them there in tears … They have lost everything. That goes through the marrow.”
In principle, Angelique and Robin can go home later today. Although, according to Angelique, the question is whether that will actually happen. “I’ve been in for a while and it still smells very strongly of smoke. Plus, there are some cracks in the walls, in the bathroom some tiles have come off the wall.”
Despite all the misery, the couple is grateful for the support of local residents. “People who walked the dog and noticed the fire really saved us from suffocation. And later we were taken care of by someone a block away. Very nice that we live in such a neighborhood.”
A neighbor in the back saw the flames coming out of the house last night. “You could just hear the fire sucking the air in. Very intense. And it was so hot and intense that the plaster layer just came off the walls. I didn’t know that was possible.”
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