2023-06-28 13:13:00
A major fire broke out on Tuesday evening around 8:40 p.m. in a dwelling on Avenue Van Overbeke in Ganshoren, in the Brussels region. An apartment building was engulfed in flames. “Large deployment of firefighters and ambulances“, a witness reported to us via the orange Alert us button.
Contacted by us, the spokesperson for the Brussels fire brigade confirmed that it was a major fire. “Firefighters, medical services and police are on the job for a fire in a building“, indicated Walter Derieuw. “The spread took place via the exterior stairwell, via balconies and to some kitchens in a series of apartments“. A thick plume of smoke was visible in the vicinity of the building.
I heard explosions, banging. I saw pieces of glass falling.
Pierre, 88, lives there on the third floor with his wife, Marie-Henriette, 85. He was in his kitchen when the fire broke out:I heard explosions, banging. I saw pieces of glass falling. I opened the window, looked a little outside, to avoid falling glass, and I saw that smoke was coming out of an apartment“, says Peter.
Marie-Henriette is still shocked: “It’s a real disaster. We lose everything we have. Luckily we can live with our daughter while we wait.“
Sophia too, saw 43 years of memories in this building go up in smoke: “I saw the flames, but my tiles have already started popping in my kitchen. The curtain caught fire and the glass came towards me“, tells us the resident.
Four people in hospital, considerable material damage
“We managed to control the fire around 9:30 p.m. by using seven pumpers, three ladders and two tank trucks. The police were also on hand to carry out the operation as well as the Red Cross, with an advanced medical post“, specifies Walter Derieuw. After extinguishing the fire, the firefighters set about checking the presence of carbon monoxide and the condition of the apartments. The provisional report shows four people evacuated by ambulance and two others treated on place.
The damage caused to the building is considerable. Forty apartments are temporarily uninhabitable.“There is no more gas, electricity, that means no more elevators. The challenge would really be in the next few hours to find solutions on a case-by-case basis for the inhabitants”, indicated the mayor of Ganshoren, Jean-Paul Van Laethem.
A hundred people are in a temporary reception center
The municipal phase of the emergency plan has been activated to accommodate the inhabitants of this apartment building. “One person was in shock“, says the spokesperson. “A hundred others are in a temporary reception center“.
Unoccupied rooms in a nursing home were made available. On the very site of these social housing units, apartments that were also unoccupied were requisitioned urgently for people who had no immediate solution.
The mayor is waiting for the green light from the public prosecutor’s office and from Sibelga, to see if certain unaffected housing could be reinstated as quickly as possible.
A scooter at the origin of the drama?
The cause of the accident is not yet known. But, according to the mayor, it seems that “it is a scooter that caught fire at the foot of the building in the column of the commons”. The fire then spread throughout the height of the building.
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office has in any case appointed an expert to clarify the circumstances of the incident.
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