The fire broke out around 2:30 am, after which the fire brigade responded in large numbers. A spokesperson for the Kennemerland Safety Region tells NH that the fire spread. The immediate area was closed off to allow emergency services to do their work.
Just before 3 a.m., it was scaled up to GRIP 1, which means that an incident requires multiple emergency services and structural coordination is needed at the scene of the incident.
An NH reporter sees that the house where the fire broke out is boarded up. The smell of smoke is still heavy and here and there a number of residents are standing in front of their homes.
One person taken
A person was taken for assistance. This person has not been arrested, a police spokesperson said. A forensic investigation will be conducted later today.
“That is not possible yet, because the house is difficult to reach,” said the police spokesperson.
Seven people were checked at the scene by ambulance personnel because they had smoke inhalation. 61 residents were removed from their homes and, according to the safety region, they were ‘taken care of by friends or family’, or temporary shelter had been arranged.
‘Everyone is a bit fed up’
A resident who lives diagonally below the house where the fire broke out is still with her daughter-in-law and son at 7 a.m. NH speaks to her daughter-in-law, who prefers to remain anonymous. “The fire broke out in the living room of the resident on the third floor, my mother-in-law’s bedroom is diagonally below it,” she says. “We got a call at 3:02 a.m. that she was outside.”
“My mother-in-law is 81. She was standing in the cold in her pajamas and slippers on the street, she was taken out of her house in no time. My youngest son picked her up. He was standing there on the street swearing, everyone is a bit fed up.”
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