A ‘ticking time bomb’ is how residents of Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog describe the vans full of fireworks that drive through their streets every day. The vans, often filled to the brim, are unloaded among passers-by at fireworks shops in the village. According to residents, it feels like a big risk drives past their front door every day: one mistake, one spark, one accident can be enough to cause a disaster. The mayor of Baarle-Hertog is also cautious: “We hope, just like everyone else, that things don’t go wrong.”
“All it takes is one spark and things go wrong,” says resident Gianfranco Massoni from Baarle-Nassau. “Those vans are just standing in the street, between cars and pedestrians. Sometimes several at a time and everyone just walks through them. That is extremely dangerous.”
Many residents are afraid that things will go wrong. According to them, fireworks are transported dozens of times a day between depots and shops in the Belgian part of the village, where fireworks may be sold all year round. This often happens with (rented) vans that do not have extra security.
“The transport of fireworks does not feel safe, everyone sees that this is not right.”
“They are not specially equipped vehicles,” says Natasja van Steenbrugge from Baarle-Hertog. “These are vans that any 18-year-old can drive. And then there are hundreds of kilos of fireworks in them. It doesn’t feel safe. Especially not in the middle of a residential area.”
There are regulations for the discharge of fireworks, but residents say they are systematically ignored. For example, only one van would be allowed to be unloaded at a time and shops would have to close temporarily during unloading to prevent customers from walking among them. “But that rarely happens,” says Gianfranco. “You often see three vans at the same time, with the sliding doors open, and meanwhile sales continue as usual. Children, parents, tourists: everyone walks past. Everyone sees that this is not right.”
The mayor of Baarle-Hertog, Philip Loots, confirms that the situation also worries him. “It is true that the rules around transport are much less clear than for storage,” he says. “Storage takes place in bunkers with strict safety standards, but for moving freight different and often too broad definitions apply. This creates a gray area.”
Loots says that the municipality ‘encourages enforcement’, but that it is complicated. “It is a very specific matter. An average officer is not familiar with this legislation. We urge the competent services to monitor this more closely.”
The fear mainly lies in the idea that things only have to go wrong once. Residents point to incidents with fireworks elsewhere in the country and refer to studies that show that even consumer fireworks can lead to mass explosions if handled incorrectly. “This is not a theoretical risk,” says Natasja. “We see mobile storage units driving through the village every day. And we all act as if that is normal. It is not.”
“This is a cash cow and anyone who makes money from it won’t just let it go.”
According to Mayor Loots, there are major economic interests behind the fireworks trade. “There is a lot of money involved. This is a cash cow and anyone who makes money from it will not just let it go.”
The call from the residents is clear: enforce, monitor and intervene. “We are not asking for extreme measures,” Gianfranco said. “We just want the rules that already exist to be adhered to. Because when things go wrong, everyone is too late.”
“We will take our responsibility where we can,” concludes the mayor, who also says he is dependent on the government in Belgium and the Netherlands. “And of course we hope, just like everyone else, that things don’t go wrong. But hope should never be the basis of safety.”
The fireworks traders that Omroep Brabant spoke to did not want to respond to the allegations. “A negative story is always made out of it,” was the opinion of one of them.
